522 L E p U S. 
burrows; they confine themfelves to thefe holes in the 
middle of the day, and wander in the evening, night, and 
morning, in fearch of food. They feed on all kinds of 
green vegetables and grain. Their flefh is white, and 
much efteemed. Rabbits are preyed upon by hawks, 
badgers, and polecats; and are caught by means of ter¬ 
riers, nets, and ferrets. Numbers of them are bred in a 
wild date in places fet apart for the purpofe, called war- 
rqis ; and many are bred in houfes in a domeftic date. 
They pair, and are laid to be faithful to their mates; but 
will never mix with the hare, fo as to produce a crofs 
breed. Another remarkable difference between hares and 
rabbits is, that the former live above ground, the latter 
underneath. Rabbits, in a domeftic date, are very varia¬ 
ble in colour, as black, pied, or quite white. (The 
common rabbit is drown on the Plate at fig. 2.) They ac¬ 
quire their full fize in fix months, and live to the age of 
eight or nine years. A French gentleman, who amufed 
himfelf long with rearing rabbits, and obferving their 
manners, remarked, that the offspring paid great defer¬ 
ence to their fir ft father. Upon a call, which they were 
accudomed to obey, he always put himfelf at their head, 
and arrived fird. He then ltood at the mouth of their 
hole till they had all got in. Another French writer has 
favoured us with the following very ingenious method of 
catching rabbits, which he denominates chajj'e du lapin a 
tecrevijfe. This chafe is conducted by perfons who nei¬ 
ther employ ferrets nor fire-arms. Over the openings of 
the burrows are placed nets, (as is ufual in catching the 
animals by means of ferrets,) and into one of thefe is put 
a lobjler. By little and little, the lobfter arrives at the 
bottom of the hole. Here it fixes itfelf fo firmly to the 
rabbit, that it is compelled to attempt its efcape, dragging, 
at the fame time, its enemy along with it, into fome one 
ofthenets. This chafe (the writer obferves) requires much 
patience, fince the operations of the lobder are very dow. 
Varieties of the L. cuniculus domedicus, or common 
domedic rabbit. ( 9 , Cuniculus ferus, or wild rabbit; of 
a brown afh colour; the upper part of the tail black, the 
under part white. «, C. domedicus niger, of an uniform 
black colour, b, C. domedicus albus; of an uniform 
white colour, with eyes fiery red. c, C. dom. variegtitus, 
the pied tame rabbit; of a mottled black-and-white co¬ 
lour. d, C. dom. argenteus, the filvery tame rabbit; fil- 
very grey or adi-colour, with tawny feet; fur valuable. 
The varieties y and S are by later naturalids made fepa- 
rate fpecies, as follows. 
9. Lepus Angorenfis, the Angora rabbit: covered with 
long, waved, filky hair. Inhabits Angora in Afia Mi¬ 
nor; and is exceedingly beautiful, on account of its fine, 
white, filky, fur which is a valuable article in commerce. 
10. Lepus Rudicus, the hooded rabbit, a lingular fpecies: 
it has a double Ikin over its back, into which it can with¬ 
draw its head; and another under its throat, into which 
it can withdraw its fore-feet; there are lmall holes in the 
ioofe Ikin on the back, to admit light to the eyes when 
the head is covered. The body is alh-coloured ; head 
and ears brown. It is preferved in the Britilh Mufeum, 
infcribed “A Ruffian rabbit;” though Mr. Pennant fays 
it is unknown in that empire. See fig. 3 of the annexed 
Plate, where this animal is reprefented with the hood 
drawn over its head. 
11. Without Tails. 11. Lepus Brafilienfis, the JJrafi- 
lian hare: ears large, a white ring round the neck. The 
face is of a reddifli colour, the chin white, eyes black; 
body-colour like that of the common hare, only a little 
darker; belly whitilh. It has no tail, and fome want 
the ring round the neck. They live in the woods, are 
■very prolific, and are reckoned very good food ; they do 
not burrow. They are found both in Brafil and in Mexi¬ 
co, where they are called citli, but at Brafil tapeti. 
12. Lepus pufillus, the calling hare : body brown mix- 
with grey 5 ears triangular, edged with white. This 
ipecies, called by the Tartars ittfitjkp.11, or the barking 
monies has the head thickly covered with fur almoft to 
the tip of the nofe ; it has large whilkers. Its legs are 
very fhort, the foies are furred beneath. Its whole-coat 
is very long, foft, and fmooth, with a thick long fine down 
beneath, of a brownilh-lead colour; the hair is of the fame 
colour, of a light grey towards the ends, and tipt with 
black; the lower parts of the body are hoary; the fides 
and ends of the fur are yellowilh. Length about fi» 
inches; weight from three ounces and a quarter to four 
and a half; but in winter fcarcely two and a half. 
See fig. 4. They inhabit the fouth-eaft parts of Rufiia! 
but are found no-where, in the eaft, beyond the river Oby ; 
they delight in funny valleys, and hills covered with 
herbs, efpecially thofe near the edges of woods, to which 
they run on any alarm; they live fo concealed a life, as 
very rarely to be feen 3 but are often taken in winter in 
fnares laid for the ermines; they choofe, for their bur¬ 
rows, a dry fpot, amidft bullies, covered with a firm fod, 
preferring the weltern fides of the hills; their places would 
fcarcely be known, but for their excrements ; and even 
thofe they drop, by a wife inftinft, under fome bufli, left 
their dwellings fliould be difcovered by their enemies 
among the animal creation. It is their voice alone that 
betrays their abode ; their cry is like the piping of a 
quail, but deeper; and fo loud as to be heard at the dif- 
tance of half a German mile ; it is repeated, by juft in¬ 
tervals, thrice, four times, and often fix ; this cry is emit¬ 
ted at night, and in the morning; but feldom in the day, 
except in rainy or cloudy weather; it is common to both 
fexes; but the female is filent for fome time after partu¬ 
rition, which happens about the beginning of May. She 
brings forth fix at a time, blind and naked ; Ihe fuckles 
them often, and covers them carefully with the materials 
of her neft. Thefe molt harmlefs and inoffenfive crea¬ 
tures never go far from their holes; they feed and make 
their little excurfions by night; drink often, fleep little, 
and are eafily made tame; they will fcarcely bite when 
handled ; yet the males have been obferved, when in con¬ 
finement, to attack each other, and to exprefs their anger 
by a grunting noife. 
13. Lepus alpinus, the alpine or mountain hare : body- 
bright tawny; ears fhort, brown, and rounded; feet brown. 
This fpecies has a long head, and very long whilkers, with 
two very long hairs above each eye. See fig. j. Its fur 
is ferruginous, tipt with white, and intermixed with feve- 
ral long dufky hairs; but, at the firft look, the whole ani¬ 
mal feems of a bright bay. It is only about nine inches 
long. They are firft feen on the Altaic Chain, and ex¬ 
tend to lake Baikal in Tartary, and from thence to Kamt- 
fchatka and the Fox Ifles. They inhabit always the mid¬ 
dle region of the fnowy mountains, in the rougheft places, 
wooded, and abounding with herbs and moifture. They 
fometimes burrow; but are more frequently found in cre¬ 
vices between the rocks, in pairs, or more, according to 
conveniency. In cloudy weather they atfemble and lie 
on the rocks, and emit a found fo like that of fparrows 
as to deceive the heai'er. On the report of a gun, they 
run into their holes ; but foon come out again, fuppofing 
it to be thunder, to which they are fo much ufcd in their 
lofty habitations. By wonderful inftintl, they make a 
provifion againlt the rigorous feafon in their inclement 
feats. Towards autumn a company of them collect vaft 
heaps of choice herbs and grades, nicely dried, which 
they- place either beneath the over-hanging rocks, or in 
the chafms, or round the trunk of fome tree; the way to 
thefe heaps is marked by a worn path ; the heaps are form¬ 
ed like conoid ricks of hay, and are of various fixes, ac¬ 
cording to the number of the fociety employed in form¬ 
ing them ; they are fometimes of a man’s height, and 
many feet in diameter, but ufually about three feet. Thus, 
they wifely provide their winter’s dock, otherwife they 
mull perilh, being prevented by the depth of fnow from 
quitting their retreats in quell of food. They felefl the 
bell of vegetables, and crop them when in the fulleft vi¬ 
gour; thefe they make into the bell and greened hay, by 
the judicious manner in which they dry them 5 thefe ricks 
too 
