CALLING HARE. 
141 
and wide. In the spring, these elegant heaps dis- 
appear. They copulate in the spring. About the 
latter end of June, their young are observed to be 
full grown. They are the prey of hawks, mag- 
pies, and owls ; but the cat manul makes the great- 
est havock among them. The ermine and polecat 
are equally their enemies. 
Calling hare. 
This species, called by the Tartars ittsitskan, 
or the barking mouse, has a longer head in pro- 
portion to its size, (which is very diminutive,) than 
is usual with hares. The head is thickly covered 
with fur, even to the tip of the nose. It has large 
whiskers ; its ears are large and rounded ; its legs 
are very short ; and its soles are furred beneath. 
Its whole coat is very long, soft, and smooth ; 
with a thick long fine down beneath, of a brown* 
ish lead colour. The hair is of the same colour, 
of a light grey towards the ends, and tipt with 
black. The lower parts of the body are hoary ; 
the sides and ends of the fur are yellowish. Its 
length is about six inches ; its weight from three 
ounces and a quarter, to four and a half. In win* 
ter they are scarcely two and a half. 
They inhabit the south-east parts of Russia ; 
but are found no where, in the east, beyond the 
river Oby. They delight in sunny v allies, and 
hills covered with herbs, especially those near the 
edges of woods, to which they run on any alarm. 
They live so concealed a life, as very rarelj r to be 
seen ; but are often taken in winter, in the snares 
laid for the ermines. They choose, for their bur- 
rows, a dry spot amidst bushes, covered with a 
firm sod, preferring the western sides of the hills. 
Their place would scarcely be known, but for their 
cerements ; and even those they drop, by a wise 
