They breed several times in the summer, and bring seven or eight young at a time. The Arabs eat them, and esteem them among their greatest delicacies. THE HARE TRIBE. THE generic character of the Hare consists in its having two front-teeth, both above and below; the upper pair duplicate, two small interior ones standing behind the others: the fore-feet with five, and the hinder with four toes. These animals live entirely on vegetable food, and are all remarkably timid. They run by a kind of leaping pace, and in walking they use their hind-feet as far as the heel. Their tails are either very short (called in England scuts); or else they are entirely without.* THE COMMON HARE.T This little animal is found throughout Europe, and indeed in most of the northern parts of the world. Being destitute of weapons of defence, it is endowed by Providence with the passion of fear. Its timidity is known to every one: it is attentive to every alarm, and is, therefore, furnished with *Kerr, ii. 277. † SYNONYMS.-Lepus Timidus. Linn. Lievre. Buffon.-Shaw's Gen. Zool. pl. 162.-Bew. Quad. 337. ears very long and tubular, which catch the remotest sounds. The eyes are so prominent as to enable the animal to see both before and behind. The Hare feeds in the evenings, and sleeps in his form during the day; and as he generally lies on the ground he has the feet protected, both above and below, with a thick covering of hair. In a moon-light evening many of them may frequently be seen sporting together, leaping about and pursuing each other: but the least noise alarms them, and they then scamper off, each in a different direction, Their pace is a kind of gallop, or quick succession of leaps; and they are extremely swift, particularly in ascending higher grounds, to which, when pursued, they generally have recourse: here their large and strong hind-legs are of singular use to them. In northern regions, where, on the descent of the winter's snows, they would, were their summer fur to remain, be rendered particularly conspicuous to animals of prey, they change in the autumn their yellow-grey dress, for one perfectly white, and are thus enabled, in a great measure, to elude their enemies. In more temperate regions they chuse in winter a form exposed to the south, to obtain all the possible warmth of that season: and in summer, when they are desirous of shunning the hot rays of the sun, they change this for one with a northernly aspect: but in both cases they have the instinct of generally fixing upon a place where the immediately surrounding objects are nearly the colour of their own bodies, In one Hare that a gentleman watched, as soon as the Dogs were heard, though at the distance of nearly a mile, she rose from her form, swam across a rivulet, then lay down among the bushes on the other side, and by this means evaded the scent of the Hounds. - When a Hare has been chased for a considerable length of time, she will sometimes push another from its seat, and fie down there herself. When hard pressed, she will mingle with a flock of Sheep, run up an old wall, and conceal herself among the grass on the top of it, or cross a river several times at small distances. She never runs in a line directly forward, but constantly doubles about, which frequently throws the Dogs out of the scent; and she generally goes against the wind. It is extremely remarkable that Hares, however frequently pursued by the Dogs, seldom leave the place where they were brought forth, or that in which they usually sit and it is a very common thing to find them, after a long and severe chase, in the same place the day following. The females have not so much strength and agility as the males: they are, consequently, more timid, and never suffer the Dogs to approach them so near, before they rise, as the males. They are likewise said to practise more arts, and to double more frequently. This animal is gentle, and susceptible even of education. He does not often, however, though he exhibits some degree of attachment to his master, become altogether domestic: for, although when taken very young, brought up in the house, and accustomed to kindnesses and attention, no sooner is he arrived at a certain age, than he generally seizes the first opportunity of recovering his liberty, and flying to the fields. Whilst Dr. Townson was at Göttingen, he had a young Hare brought to him, which he took so much pains with, as to render it more familiar than these animals commonly are. In the evenings it soon became so frolicksome, as to run and jump about his sofa and bed; sometimes in its play it would leap upon, and pat him with its fore-feet, or, whilst he was reading, even knock the book out of his hand. But whenever a stranger entered the room, the little animal always exhibit considerable alarm.* Mr. Borlase saw a Hare that was so familiar as to feed from the hand, lay under a chair in a common sitting-room, and appear, in every other respect, as easy and comfortable in its situation as a Lapdog. It now and then went out into the garden, but after regaling itself always returned to the house as its proper habitation. Its usual companions were a Greyhound and a Spaniel, both so fond of Hare-hunting, that they often went out together without any persons accompanying them. With these two Dogs this tame Hare spent its evenings : they always slept on the same hearth, and very frequently it would rest itself upon them.† Hares are very subject to Fleas. Linnæus tells us that cloth made of their fur will attract these * Townson's Tracts, p. 146. † Borlase, p. 289. Hh insects, and preserve the wearer from their troublesome attacks. Dogs and Foxes pursue the Hare by instinct: wild Cats, Weasels, and birds of prey devour it; and man, far more powerful than all its other enemies, makes use of every artifice to seize upon an animal which constitutes one of the numerous delicacies of his table. Even this poor defenceless beast is rendered an object of amusement, in its chase, to this most arrogant of all animals, who boasts his superiority over the brute creation in the possession of intellect and reason: wretchedly indeed are these perverted when exercised in so cruel, so unmanly a pursuit : Poor is the triumph o'er the timid Hare! In India the Hare is hunted for sport, not only with Dogs, but with Hawks, and some species of the Cat genus. The flesh, though in esteem amongst the Romans, was forbidden by the Druids, and by the Britons of the early centuries. It is now, though very black, dry, and devoid of fat, much esteemed by the Europeans, on account of its peculiar flavour. |