QUADRUPEDS. 
[Clafs I. 
Being a weak and moft defencelefs creature; 
it is endued, in a very didinguifhed degree, 
with that preferving paffion, fear : this makes 
it perpetually attentive to every alarm, and 
keeps it always lean. 
To enable it to receive the mod didant 
notices of danger, it is provided with very 
long ears, which (like the tubes made ufe of 
by the deaf) convey to it the remoted founds. 
Its eyes are very large and prominent, a- 
i 
dapted to receive the rays of light, on all fides. 
To affid it to efcape its purfuers, by a fpeedy 
flight, the hind legs are formed remarkably 
long, and furnifhed with ftrong mufcles : their 
length give the hare Angular advantages over 
its enemies in afcending deep places ; and fo 
fenfible is the animal of this, as always to 
make towards the riflng ground when darted. 
The various dratagems and doubles it 
ufes, when hunted, are fo well known to every 
fportfman, as not to deferve mention ; except 
to awaken their attention to thofe faculties 
nature has endowed it with ; which ferve at 
the fame time to encreafe their amufement, as 
well as to prevent the animal’s dedru&ion. 
It very rarely leaves its form or feat in the 
day; but in the night takes a circuit in fearch 
of food, always returning thro’ the fame 
meufes, or pafles. 
The color approaches very near to that of 
the ground ; which fecures it more effectually 
from the fight of men, and of beads and birds 
of prey. Providence has been fo careful in 
refpeCt to the prefervation of the fpecies of 
animals, as to caule in northern countries thefe 
as well as many others to change color, and 
become white at the beginning of winter ; to 
render them lefs confpicuous amidd the fnow. 
Accidental indances of white hares, are met 
with in Great-Britain. 
Its food is entirely vegetable; and it does 
great injury to nurferies of young trees, by 
eating the bark off: it is particularly fond of 
pinks, and partly. 
The hare never pairs ; but in the rutting 
feafbn, which begins in February , the male 
purfues and difcovers the female, by the faga- 
city of its nofe. The female goes with young 
one month, brings ufually two young at a 
time ; fometimes three, and very rarely four. 
Sir Thomas Brown , in his treatife on vulgar 
errors,* aflerts the doCtrine of fuperfsetation ; 
i. e. a conception upon conception, or an im¬ 
provement on the flrd fruit before the fecond 
is excluded ; and he brings this animal as an 
indance ; aflerting, from his own cbfervation, 
that after the flrd cad there remain fucceflive 
conceptions, and other younglings very imma¬ 
ture, and far from the term of their exclufion ; 
but as the hare breeds very frequently in the 
year, there is no neceflity of having recourfe 
to this accident* *to account for their numbers. 
Flares are very fubjeCt to fleas; Linnaeus 
tells us, that the Dalecarlia,ns make a fort of 
cloth of the fur called Jilt ; which, by attraCt- 
ing thofe infers, preferves the wearer from 
their troublefome attacks j~. 
The hair of this creature forms a great 
article in the hat manufacture ; and as this 
country cannot fupply a diffident number, vad 
quantities are annually imported from RuJJia . 
The hare was reckoned a great delicacy a- 
mong the Romans ; J The Britains , on the 
contrary, thought it wrong even to tade it * j~. 
* P. 118. 
** For a farther account of this do£trine, we refer the curious 
reader to M. Buftoris works, vol. 6.p, 252. 279, &c. 
-j~ Faun. juec. 19. 
- t Inter aves turdus, fi quid me judice verum eft : 
Interquadrupedw gloria prima Lepus eft. Martial. 13. 92. 
*-j- Leporem et gallinam et anferem guftare fas non putant. 
Ccejar. Com. Lib. 5. 
