478 
RURAL HOURS. 
than the rabbit. It measures from twenty to twenty-fire inches 
in length ; the Gray Rabbit measures only fifteen or eighteen 
inches. The last weighs three or four pounds ; the first six 
pounds and a half. In winter our hare is white, with touches of 
fawn-color ; in summer, reddish brown ; but they differ so much 
in shading, that two individuals are never found exactly alike. 
The flesh is thought mfei'ior to that of the gray rabbit. The hare 
lives exclusively in high forests of pine and fir ; it is common here, 
and is said to extend from Hudson’s Bay to Pennsylvania. There 
are a, number of other hares in different parts of the Union, but 
this is the only one knoTvn in our own State. It is said to make 
quite a fierce resistance when seized, unlike the timid hare of Eu- 
rope, although that animal is now thought to be rather less cow- 
ardly than its common reputation. 
Wednesday, *Uh . — Was there ever a region more deplorably 
afflicted with ill-judged names, than these United States ? From 
the title of the Continent to that of the merest hamlet, we are 
unfortunate in this respect ; our mistakes began with Americo 
Vespucci, and have continued to increase ever since. The 
Republic itself is the great unnamed ; the States of which it 
is composed, counties, cities, boroughs, rivers, lakes, mountains, 
all partake in some degree of this novel form of evil. The 
passing traveller admires some cheerful American village, and in- 
quires what he shall call so pretty a spot ; an inhabitant of the 
place tells him, with a flush of mortification, that he is approach- 
ing Nebuchadnezzarville, or South-West-Cato, or Hottentop- 
olis, or some other monstrously absurd combination of syllables 
and ideas. Strangely enough, this subject of names is one upon 
which very worthy people seem to have lost all ideas of fitness 
