LEPUS. 
fied to run with rapidity up a considerable 
ascent, and seepis to be conscious of this 
advantage, by frequently taking such a di- 
rection as gives it the full benefit of this pe- 
culiarity. 
The average duration of the hare is about 
seven years ; but so numerous are its ene- 
mies, that, notwithstanding the advantages 
above-mentioned, it very frequently fails to 
attain its natural term. It is pursued by 
dogs and foxes with mortal and unrelenting 
antipathy. Weasels, wild cats, and wolves 
seize and devour it whenever it is within 
their reach ; and eagles, hawks, and other 
birds of prey are also destructive enemies 5 
but the most formidable of all is man, who 
finds one of the most interesting of his 
diversions ■ in its persecution, and one of 
the highest luxuries of his table in its flesh. 
Indeed, so prolific is the hare, that without 
experiencing very considerable hostility, it 
would multiply to a most injurious degree ; 
and in some districts of France, where the 
game was particularly and assiduously se- 
cured by the proprietors, no fewer than five 
hundred hares have been killed within a 
small compass in a single day. 
The hare, if taken young, may be tamed 
and domesticated. It has occasionally 
been suckled and nursed by a cat. The 
celebrated Sonnini, the traveller and natu- 
ralist had a hare in a complete state of do- 
mestication ; and Cowper, the poet, was in 
possession of three, whose comforts he at- 
tended to with the most humane assiduity, 
and whose manners he has described with 
much interest and discrimination. The fur 
of the hare is of eminent, and almost indis- 
pensable utility, in the hat manufactory, 
and innumerable skins are annually brought 
to this country for that purpose from the 
north of Europe. 
This animal was regarded by Moses as 
unclean, and unfit for food ; it is consider- 
ed in the same light also by the Mahome- 
tans. The Romans used to value it highly 
for the table. By the ancient Britons it 
was considered as partaking somewhat of a 
sacred character, which forbade their ap- 
plication of it to so ordinary a purpose. 
Hares have been seen in this country per- 
fectly white, as in more northern regions, 
and accounts of horned hares have been 
given to the public upon unquestionable au- 
thority, though such animals are of ex- 
tremely rare occurrence. For the Common 
Hare, see Mammalia, Plate XV. fig. 3. 
L. variabilis, or the varying hare, is an 
inhabitant of the loftiest territories of the 
north, botli of Europe and America. Its 
colour in summer is a tawny grey, and ia 
winter it is changed to a perfect white. 1 1 
never associates with the common hare, and 
rarely descends from its elevated haunts in- 
to the vallies ; though occasionally, in a ri- 
gorous winter, numbers of these animals are 
seen to quit the frozen elevations of Si- 
beria, and migrate for subsistence to the 
woody and sheltered plains. 
L. cuniculns, or the rabbit, is found in 
most temperate climates, but not far to the 
north. Its fecundity is extreme, and in 
some countries has occasioned it to be-con- 
sidered as one of the greatest annoyances. 
It will breed, in favourable circumstances, 
seven times in a year, and produces about 
eight young ones at a time. It is most’ 
strikingly similar to the hare in general ap- 
pearance; but while the hare prefers the 
uncovered field, the rabbit burrows in the 
ground. It has sharp and long claws for 
this purpose, and chooses dry and chalky 
soils, in which it can with the greatest ease 
construct its mansion. It lives to the age 
■ of about eight years. The female prepares 
a bed for its young before their birth, from 
its own coat, of the finest and warmest ma- 
terials, nurses them with incessant assiduity, 
and is obliged often to secrete them from the 
malignant attempts of the male, which have 
been known, in many instances, to be fatal 
to them. In England, particularly in Cam- 
bridgeshire and Norfolk, rabbits are abun. 
dant, and their fur is of nearly equal value 
with their flesh. 
The hare and rabbit never intermix, and 
appear to contemplate each otlier without 
the slightest sympathy. The principal dif- 
ference between these two animals consists 
in the proportional length of the hind legs 
to that of the back. For the Rabbit, see 
Mammalia, Plate XV. fig. 4. 
L. alpinus, or the Alpine hare, is about 
the size of a Guineq pig, is a native of the 
Altaic mountains, and burrows in the clefts 
of the rocks, or resides in the hollows of 
trees. These animals avoid the glare of 
day, and appear only by night, or in ob- 
scure and dull weather. They collect in 
summer a preparation of herbage, the most 
delicate and fragrant, and having dried it 
with the utmost care, set it aside in com- 
pact heaps for their subsistence during win- 
ter. These heaps are occasionally of the 
height and depth of several feet, and are 
sometimes of extreme service to the horses 
of the sable hunters in those dreaSful re- 
gions, preserving them from absolutely 
