350 
VERTEBRATA. 
THE CALLING HARE. 
hoary; on the sides the fur is yellowish ; length about six inches; weight from three and a quar- 
ter to four and a half ounces ; in winter scarcely two and a half ounces. 
The Calling Hares delight in the most sunny valleys and hills, where the herbage is plentiful 
and delicate. They choose these localities when in the vicinity of a wood, which will atFord them 
a ready refuge in case of danger or alarm. Their burrows are usually formed under bushes or 
tangled vegetation of some sort or other. During the day they are generally concealed in these 
subterranean retreats ; but they come abi'oad during the night, at which time they are understood 
to see as well as during the day. In the morning and the evening, and at intervals during the 
night, they call to each other with a cry which has been compared to that of the quail, and 
which, notwithstanding the small size of the animal, may be heard at the distance of a mile. It 
is on this account that the epithet "calling" has been added to their name. The uttering of this 
cry seems to be a matter of considerable exertion to them; for it is attended with a motion of the 
neck and head very similar to that of the dog when he barks. When the weather is fine they 
are in general silent during the day, but when it lowers, or is tempestuous, they become noisy, 
and are, like many other animals, a sort of natural indicators of the weather. Both the male and 
female utter this cry, though the latter is silent for some time after giving birth to her young. 
In the long winters of the country which they inhabit, they form galleries under the snow, by 
which they reach those shrubs on the bark of which they feed, without at all appearing on the 
surface. In summer they eat grass and succulent leaves ; but they are often reduced to great ex- 
tremities in the height of summer, when the moisture is dried up and the plants withered from 
the ground. In such cases they are sometimes compelled to feed on the droppings of the larger 
herbaceous mammalia; and they are equally pinched for water, of which they drink freely when 
it is to be had. 
These are very cleanly as well as very delicate little creatures, and keep their burrows very 
neat. They are prolific, the females producing about six on the average. The time of gestation 
bas not been ascertained; but, from the analogy of the whole race, it is presumed to be very 
short. The young are produced with the eyes closed, and without any fur on their bodies; but 
the fur begins to appear about the eighth day, and the growth is very rapid. In their disposi- 
tions, these little creatures are the gentlest of all imaginable animals, and though, when in a state 
of nature, they are very timid, they are susceptible to kind usage, and when tenderly treated be- 
come very tame. 
