ledge of rock is selected. The young, 
when born, are covered with hair, their 
eyes are open, and they are able almost 
immediately to support themselves. 
The rabbit, on the other hand, is born 
with closed eyes, and requires the con- 
stant attention of the mother for some 
time. The hares are not so prolific as 
the rabbits, the female bringing forth 
but from three to five young at a 
litter, the rabbits bearing from five to 
eight. 
Hares generally feed at night, lying 
in their forms in some bush or copse 
during the greater part of the day; rab- 
bits, on the contrary, generally remain 
in the warmest corner of the burrow 
during the dark hours. The food of 
the hare consists of all kinds of vege- 
tables similar in nature to cabbage and 
turnips, which are favorite dainties with 
it; it is also especially fond of lettuce 
and parsley. 
The great speed of the hare in run- 
ning is chiefly due to the fact that the 
hind legs are longer than the fore. 
This is also the reason why it can run 
better up hill than down. Generally it 
utters a sound only when it sees itself 
in danger. This cry resembles that of 
a little child, being a shrill scream or 
squeak. 
Among the perceptive senses of the 
hare, hearing is best developed; the 
smell is fairly keen, but sight is rather 
deficient. Prudence and vigilance are 
its most prominent characteristics. The 
slightest noise — the wind rustling in the 
leaves, a falling leaf — suffices to excite 
its attention and awaken it from sleep. 
Dietrich Aus Dem Winckell says that 
the greatest vice of the hare is its mal- 
ice, not because it expresses it in biting 
and scratching, but because it often 
proves its disposition in the most re- 
volting manner, the female by denying 
her maternal love, and the male by his 
cruelty to the little leverets. 
It is said that captive hares are easily 
tamed, become readily used to all kinds 
of nourishment usually fed to rabbits, 
but are very delicate and apt to die. 
If they are fed only on hay, bread, oats, 
and water, and never anything green, 
they live longer. A tame hare, in the 
possession of Mr. Fuchs in Wilden- 
berg, which slept and ate with his dogs, 
ate vegetable food only in default of 
meat — veal, pork, liver, and sausage 
causing it to go into such raptures that 
it would execute a regular dance to get 
at these dainties. 
Besides the flesh, which as food is 
justly esteemed, the fur of the hare is 
also put to account. The skin is deprived 
of its hair, tanned and used in the man- 
ufacture of shoes, of one kind of parch- 
ment, and of glue; the hair is used in 
the manufacture of felt. 
Mark Twain, in his " Roughing It," 
gives this humorous and characteristic 
description of the jack rabbit: 
"As the sun was going down, we saw 
the first specimen of an animal known 
familiarly over two thousand miles of 
mountain and desert — from Kansas 
clear to the Pacific ocean — as the 'jack- 
ass-rabbit.' He is well named. He is 
just like any other rabbit, except that 
he is from one-third to twice as large, 
has longer legs in proportion to his 
size, and has the most preposterous 
ears that ever were mounted on any 
creature but a jackass. When he is 
sitting quiet, thinking about his sins, or 
is absent-minded, or unapprehensive of 
danger, his majestic ears project above 
him conspicuously; but the breaking 
of a twig will scare him nearly to death, 
and then he tilts his ears back gently, 
and starts for home. All you can see 
then, for the next minute, is his long 
form stretched out straight, and 'streak- 
ing it' through the low sage-bushes, 
head erect, eyes right, and ears just 
canted to the rear, but showing you 
just where the animal is, just the same 
as if he carried a jib. When he is 
frightened clear through, he lays his 
long ears down on his back, straightens 
himself out like a yardstick every 
spring he makes, and scatters miles be- 
hind him with an easy indifference that 
is enchanting. Our party made this 
specimen 'hump himself.' I commenced 
spitting at him with my weapon, and 
all at the same instant let go with a 
rattling crash. He frantically dropped 
his ears, set up' his .tail, and left for 
San Francisco at lightning speed. Long 
after he was out of sight we could hear 
him whiz." C. C. M. 
108 
