H A R 
ftrlve to regain their native liberty on the firft op- 
portunity. As they have excellent ears, and fit 
on their hind-legs while ufing their fore- paws as 
hands, they liave frequently been taught to beat 
the druiTi, to dance to mufic, and to perform fonne 
part of the manual exercife. 
Eut the natural inftincts of Hares for their pre- 
fervation are fir more extraordinary than their ar- 
tificial acquirements. They make themfelves 
forms particularly in fuch places where the colour 
of the grafs feems mofl; nearly allied to their own; 
which forms open to the fouth in winter, and to the 
north in furnmer. The foles of their feet being 
furnifned with hair, their motions are unattended 
with noifc; and, if their ftrength was equal to their 
fwiftneis, no other animals would be capable of 
overtaking them. But they generally exhauft 
their powers at the nrfi: effort; and are much more 
eafily caught than foxes, which are but flow crea- 
tures when compared to them. 
When the Flare hears the hounds at a diftance, 
it flies for fome time from a natural impulfe, with- 
out managing it's flrength, or ufing any other 
means but celerity in order to it's prefervation. 
Having gained fome hill or rifing ground, and 
left the dogs fo far behind, that it's ears no 
longer receive their cries, it ft:ops, rears on it's 
hinder legs, and looks back, for the purpofe of 
fatisfying itfelf whether it's purfuers are ftill in 
fight or not: but the dogs having once gained the 
fcent, trace it with united and unerring Ikill; and 
the poor animal foon again recei^^es indications of 
their approach. Sometimes, when hard hunted, 
it will ftart a frefli Hare, and fquat in the fame 
form; at others, it will creep under the door of a 
flieep-cot, and conceal itfelf among the Iheep; 
fometimes it will enter a hole, li'tce the rabbit; at 
others, it will run up one fide of a quickfet hedge, 
and dovrn the other ; and it has even been known, 
when opportunity ferved, to afcend the top of a 
cut hedge, and run a ccnfiderable way, by which 
fliratagemx it has effectually evaded the hounds. 
It is alio not unufual for the Hare to betake itfelf 
to furze-buflies, and leap from one to ? 
whereby the dogs are frequently mifled. 
ever, the firft doubling which a Hare ma 
nerally affords a key to all it's future attempts of 
that kind, the latter exadlly refembling the former. 
Young; Hares leave a ftronsier fcent behind 
them than old ones, becaufe they tread heavier in 
confequence of the weaknefs of their limbs ; and 
the more fatigued thefe harmlefs, perfecuted ani- 
mals, become, the ft:ronger fcent they leave be- 
hind them. The males are diftinguifiiable by 
their preferring hard highways, feeding at a greater 
diftance from Ibme cover, and by making their 
doublings of greater compafs than the females. 
The male, after having taken a turn or two round 
his form, frequently leads the hounds five or fix 
miles on a fl:retch; but the female keeps clofe 
by fome cover fide; turns, crofles, and winds 
amiong the buflies, like the rabbit; and feldom 
runs directly forward. In general, however, both 
the male and female vary their artifices according 
to the weather: in a moift day, they keep clofe to 
• the highway, if within their reach, becaufe their 
fcent is then fl:rongeft on the grafs. If they ap- 
proach the fide of a grove or fpring, they forbear 
to enter, but fquat do\m till the hounds have over- 
fhot them ; and then turning along their former 
track, miake to their old form, jn hopes of there 
findine flicker and fafetv. 
H A R 
The influence of climate is very perceptible oii 
thefe animals, and indeed on moil others. In 
thofe countries which border on the north pole, 
they become white in winter, and afl:emble in 
troops of four or five hundred. The Hares of hoc 
countries, particularly of Italy, Spain, and Bar- 
bary, are fmaller than thofe of Britain; but fuch 
as are bred in the Milanefe are faid to be the befl: 
in Europe. From the torrid zone to the vicinity 
of the polar circle, there is fcarcely a country where 
thefe creatures are not found: they inhabit every 
part of Europe; and m,ofl: countries of Afla, Africa, 
and America. 
The fur of Hares is of vaft im.portance in the 
hat manufaftory; and many thoufands of their 
fKins are annually im.ported into this kino-dom 
from Rufiia and Siberia. The ficfli of thele ani- 
mals has been efteemed a delicacy by fome nations, 
and utterly detefted among others. The ancient 
Britons, Jews, and Mahometans, all regarded the 
Flare as an unclean creature, and religioufly ab- 
ftained from rafting it's flefli: on the contrary, 
there are fcarcely any other people, however bar- 
barous, who at prefent do not confider it as the 
moft agreeable food. Fafliion feems fo to govern 
all the fenfes, that what mankind at one time'confi- 
der as beautiful, fragrant, or favoury, is at another 
period, or in another country, regarded as de- 
formed, difguftful, and naufeous. The fame flefli, 
which the ancient Romans fo much admired, as 
to call it the Food of the Wife, was deemed unfit to 
be eaten by the Jews and Druids ; and even the 
m.oderns, who unite in ranking the flefli of this 
animal among the delicacies of the table, have ne- 
verthelefs very difl^erent ideas v/ith refpect to the 
art of drefllng it. 
Hare, Varying ; the Lepus Variabilis of Pal- 
las. This fpecies, which inhabits Norway, Lap- 
land, Ruflla, Siberia, Kamtfchatka, and Hudfon's 
Bay, is alfo found on the tops of the higheft hills 
in Scodand; but never defcends into the vales, or 
aflTociates with the common Hare. It generally 
flickers itfelf in the cliffs of rocks, is eafily tamed, 
""'-1 l^pcom.es extremely playful and amufing. To- 
f September it changes "it's Co- 
nner drefs about April ; 
but It Ls ^ . ^m.ely gelid regions of 
Greenland where it a. lains perfcftly white. 
In Siberia it afllimes ti. of fnov/ durino- the 
winter, not onky in a ftai -rty, but alfo when 
tamed, and kept in the ft.. -ned apartments 
of the natives, as has beer ^y experiments. 
In the laft-mentioned , thefe animals al- 
femble in troops of ^ hundred, migratin<* 
in the fpring, and .ng in autumn: to this 
they are com.pe'' ne want of fubfiftence; the 
lofty hills be' .e brumal leafon deftitute of 
vegetables . fupport, they defcend to the 
plains, a- .nge their fafe and beloved retreats 
in the .ins for fituations which, though they 
afib- y of food, teem with danger. 
arying Hare is ftnaller than the common 
In the fummer feafon it's fur is of a 
grey colour, v/ith a flight admixture of black 
. .1 tawny; it's tail is always white; it's ears are 
fliort ; it's legs are flender ; and it's feet are clofely 
and warmly furred. In winter, the whole of the 
animal changes to a fnowy whitenefs, except the 
tips and edges of it's ears, which remain black. 
In the fouthern and wefl:ern provinces of RulTIa 
there is a mixed breed of Hares, between this and 
the common fpecies, which fufliains only a partial 
lofs 
