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The soil and climate have their influence upon this animal, as well as on most others. In the countries bordering on the north pole, they become white in winter, and are often seen in great troops of four or five hundred running along the banks of the river Irtish, or the Jenisca, and as white as the snow they tread on. They are caught in toils for the sake of their skins, which on the spot are sold for less than seven shillings a hundred. Their fur is well known to form a considerable article in the hat manufacture; and we accordingly import vast quantities of it from those countries where the hare abounds in such plenty.* They are found also entirely black, but these in much less quantity than the former; (g) and even some have been seen with horns, though these but rarely.(g)

The hares of the hot countries, particularly in Italy, Spain and Barbary, are smaller than ours: those bred in the Milanese country are said to be the best in Europe. (g) There is scarce a country where this animal is not to be found, from the torrid zone to the neighbourhood of the polar circle. The natives of Guinea knock them on the head as they come down to the sides of the rivers to drink. They also surround the place where they are seen in numbers, and clattering a short stick, which every man carries, against that which the person next him carries, they diminish their circle gradually, till the hares are cooped up in the midst. They then all together throw their sticks in among them, and with such deadly force, that they seldom fail of killing great numbers at a time. (g) THE RABBIT.-The hare and the rabbit, though so very nearly resembling each other in form and

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disposition, are yet distinct kinds, as they refuse to mix with each other. Buffon bred up several of both kinds in the same place: but from being at first indifferent, they soon became enemies; and their combats were generally continued until one of them was disabled

danger than a more deliberate one, whereby the chase is protracted to a greater length of time, and she can continue the exertion of her strength longer than if she exerted her full speed at first. She seems to have observed, that in grounds where there are many young shrubs, the contact of her body leaves behind her a stronger scent, and one which makes the dogs pursue her with much greater ardour and perseverance than in level plains, over which the wind skims lightly. She, therefore, avoids all thickets, and keeps as much as possible upon beaten roads; but when she is pursued by greyhounds, she runs from them as fast as she is able, and seeks for shelter in woods and thickets.

Knowing that harriers, even though they do not see her, can follow her track, she often practises an admirable stratagem to deceive them. When she has run on a considerable way in a straight line, she returns a small distance upon the road she has come, in order to render the scent very strong upon the space of the ground: she then makes several long leaps in a side direction, and thereby renders (g) Klein Disp. Quadrup. p. 52. (g) Dictionnaire Raisonée, Lievre.

(Rabbit.)

it difficult for the hounds to recover the scent. By this means the hounds are often put at fault, and the hare enabled to get considerably a-head of them.

LEPUS VARIABILIS OR VARYING HARE. -This species of hare occurs in the Alpine districts of Scotland, seldom descends to the low countries, and never intermixes with the common hare. In the north of Europe, there is a species said to be the same with our varying hare, but it differs from it in being larger, living in plains, and migrating in troops. The varying hare becomes white in winter. This remarkable change takes place in the following manner:-About the middle of September, the grey feet begin to be white, and before the month ends, all the four feet are white, and the ears and muzzle are of a brighter colour. The white colour gradually ascends the legs and thighs, and we observe under the grey hair whitish spots, which continue to increase until the end of October, but still the back continues of a grey colour, while the eye-brows and ears are nearly white. From this period the change of colour ad(g) Johnston de Quad. lib. ii. cap. 2. (g) Hist. Gen. des Voyages, tom. iv. p. 171.

or destroyed. However, though these experiments were not attended with success, I am assured that nothing is more frequent than an animal bred between these two, which like all other mules, is marked with sterility. Nay, it has been actually known that the rabbit couples with animals of a much more distant nature; and there is at present in the Museum at Brussels, a creature covered with feathers and hair, and said to be bred between a rabbit and a hen..

The fecundity of the rabbit is still greater than that of the hare; and if we should calculate the produce from a single pair, in one year, the number would be amazing. They breed seven times in a year, and bring eight young ones each time. On a supposition, therefore, that this happens regularly, at the end of four years, a couple of rabbits shall see a progeny of almost a million and a half. From hence we might justly apprehend being overstocked by their increase; but, happily for mankind, their enemies are numerous, and their nature inoffensive; so that their destruction bears a near proportion to their fertility.

But although their numbers be diminished by every beast and bird of prey, and still more by man himself, yet there is no danger of their extirpation. The hare is a poor, defenceless animal, that has nothing but its swiftness to depend

vances rapidly, and by the middle of November, the whole fur, with the exception of the tips of the ears, which remain black, is of a fine shining white. The back becomes white within eight days. During the whole of this remarkable change in the fur, no hair falls from the animal; hence, it appears that the hair actually changes its colour, and that there is no renewal of it. The fur retains its white colour until the month of March, or even later, depending on the temperature of the atmosphere, and by the middle of May it has again a grey colour. But the spring change is different from the winter, as the hair is completely shed.-EDINBURGH PHIL. JOURNAL.

THE RABBIT AND THE HARE. - The rabbit in all its physicalities and relative proTAPETI OR BRAZILIAN HARE.-This is the Gessner first refered the animal to the Guinea pig; and subsequent zoologists have treated it as a variety of the common American species: but D'Azara has more recently described and established it.

The general form of the body is that of the hare or rabbit. From the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail, it measures about eighteen inches, and the tail itself with the hair upon it, which makes it round, does not exceed ten lines. The fur is varied, brown, black, and yellowish above, with the upper part of the head red brown, without any sprinkling of yellow; the cheeks are greyish; a lightish line passes round the eyes; the lower edge of the nose, the lips, and the under part of the head; the chest, and belly and insides of The Tapeti does not burrow in the earth, but lives in woods and sits on the surface like the common hare; when hunted. he endeavours to hide himself under the trunks of

portions is extremely assimilated to the hare. The habits and instincts of the two form, perhaps, their greatest differences. Although provided with similar organs, clothed in the same dress, and inhabiting the same countries, they seem to have a natural aversion for each other; a hatred observes M. F. Cuvier, which nothing can soften. Love, which unites the dog and the wolf, the goat and the sheep, the horse and the zebra, cannot conciliate the rabbit and the hare. However violent their sexual desires each for its own species, and however nearly the two may be allied, they will under no circumstances approach each other; or, if by chance they meet, a combat generally follows, which not unfrequently terminates fatally to one; hence hares are not found where rabbits are plentiful.GRIFFITH.

smallest of the known species. Johnson and

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(Tapeti Hare.)

the legs, are white.
trees; or in the high grass. The flesh tastes
like that of the rabbit. The female is said
to bring forth bat one litter of three or four
in the year.-ED.

on for safety; its numbers are, therefore, every day decreasing; and in countries that are well peopled, the species are so much kept under, that laws are made for their preservation. Still, however, it is most likely that they will be at last totally destroyed; and, like the wolf or the elk in some countries be only kept in remembrance. But it is otherwise with the rabbit, its fecundity being greater, and its means of safety more certain. The hare seems to have more various arts and instincts to escape its pursuers, by doubling, squatting, and winding; the rabbit has but one art of defence alone, but in that one finds safety; by making itself a hole, where it continues a great part of the day, and breeds up its young; there it continues secure from the fox, the hound, the kite, and every other enemy.

Nevertheless, though this retreat be safe and convenient, the rabbit does not seem to be naturally fond of keeping there. It loves the sunny field and the open pasture; it seems to be a chilly animal, and dislikes the coldness of its under-ground habitation. It is, therefore, continually out, when it does not fear disturbance; and the female often brings forth her young, at a distance from the warren, in a hole, not above a foot deep at the most. There she suckles them for about a month; covering them over with moss and grass, whenever she goes to pasture, and scratching them up at her return. It has been said, indeed, that this shallow hole without the warren, is made lest the male should attack and destroy her young; but I have seen the male himself attend the young there, lead them out to feed, and conduct them back upon the return of the dam. This external retreat seems a kind of country-house, at a distance from the general habitation; it is usually made near some spot of excellent pasture, or in the midst of a field of sprouting corn. To this both male and female often retire from the warren; lead their young by night to the food which lies so convenient, and, if not disturbed, continue there till they are perfectly grown up. There they find a greater variety of pasture than near the warren, which is generally eaten bare; and enjoy a warmer sun, by covering themselves up in a shallower hole. Whenever they are disturbed, they then forsake their retreat of pleasure, for one of safety; they fly to the warren with their utmost speed; and, if the way be short, there is scarce any dog, how swift soever, that can overtake them.*

But it does not always happen that these animals are possessed of one of these external apartments; they most usually bring forth their young in the warren, but always in a hole, separate from the male. On these occasions, the female digs herself a hole, (g) different from the ordinary one, by being more intricate; at the bottom of which she makes a more ample apartment. This done, she pulls off from her belly a good quantity of her hair, with which she makes a kind of bed for her young. During the two first days she never leaves them; and does not stir out but to procure nourishment, which she takes with the utmost dispatch; in this manner suckling her young, for near six weeks, until they are strong, and able to go abroad themselves. During all this time, the male seldom visits their separate apartment; but when they are grown up, so as to come to the mouth of the hole, he then seems to acknowledge them as his offspring,

ECONOMY OF THE RABBIT. The rabbit is said to be originally from Spain, but it has been for ages common in the rest of Europe, and is now transported into Africa and America.

We are assured on the authority of those who have paid great attention to the subject, that rabbits live in a social state, and take an interest in each other, and even have something like respect for the right of property. In their republic, as in that of Lacedæmon, old age, parental affection, and hereditary rights are respected; the same burrow is said to pass from father to son, and lineally from

generation to generation; it is never aban
doned by the same family without necessity,
but is enlarged as the number of the family
increases by the addition of more galleries or
apartments. This succession of patrimony,
this right of property among these animals,
has been long observed, nor have the modern,
investigations in zoology disproved its exist-
ence. La Fontaine thus takes notice of it :-

Jean Lapin allégua la coutume et l'usage,
Ce sont leur lois, dit-il, qui m'ont de ce logis,
Rendu maitre et seigneur, et qui de pere eutils,
L'ait de Pierre à Timon, puis a moi, Jean, transmis

(g) Buffon.

takes them between his paws, smooths their skin, and licks their eyes; all of them, one after the other, have an equal share in his caresses.*

Rabbits of the domestic breed, like all other animals that are under the protection of man, are of various colours; white, brown, black, and mouse-colour, the black are the most scarce; the brown, white, and mouse-colour, are in greater plenty. Most of the wild rabbits are of a brown, and it is the colour which prevails among the species; for, in every nest of rabbits, whether the parents be black or white, there are some brown ones found of the number.

The rabbit, (g) though less than the hare, generally lives longer. As these animals pass the greater part of their lives in their burrow, where they continue at ease and unmolested, they have nothing to prevent the regularity of their health, or the due course of their nourishment. They are, therefore, generally found fatter than the hare; but their flesh is, notwithstanding, much less delicate. That of the old ones, in particular, is hard, tough and dry; but it is said, that, in warmer countries, they are better tasted.

The tame rabbits are larger than the wild ones, from their taking more nourishment, and using less exercise; but their flesh is not so good, being more insipid and softer. The hair or fur is a very useful commodity, and is employed in England for several purposes, as well when the skin is dressed with it on, as when it is pulled off. The skins, especially the white, are used for lining cloaths, and are considered as a cheap imitation of ermine. The skin of the male is usually prefered, as being the most lasting, but it is coarser; that on the belly in either sex, is the best and finest. But the chief use made of rabbits' fur, is in the manufacture of hats; it is always mixed, in certain proportions, with the fur of the beaver; and it is said to give the latter more strength and consistence. The Syrian rabbit, like all other animals bred in that country, is remarkable for the length of its hair; it falls along the sides in wavy wreaths, and is, in some places, curled at the end, like wool; it is shed once a year in large masses; and it often happens that the rabbit, dragging a part of its robe on the ground, appears as if it had got another leg, or a longer tail. There are no rabbits naturally in America: however, those that have been carried from Europe, are found to multiply in the West-India islands in great abundance. In other parts of that continent, they have animals that in some measure resemble the rabbits of Europe; and which most European travellers have often called hares or rabbits, as they happened to be large or small. Their giving them even the name will be a sufficient excuse for my placing them among animals of the bare kind; although they may differ in many of the most essential particulars. But before we go to the new continent, we will first examine such as bear even a distant resemblance to the hare kind at home.

THE SQUIRREL.+-There are few readers that are not as well acquainted with the figure of a Squirrel as that of the rabbit; but supposing it unknown to

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* HABITS OF THE RABBIT. — When a warren is established, so rapid is the increase, that its continuance is only limited by a want of food. Rabbits, when confined, lose some of their natural qualities, and acquire some others, nor are they so esteemed for the table. It appears also, that races of these animals, which have been long domesticated, lose altogether the instinct for burrowing, nor do the sexes pair monogamiously as they are presumed to do in their natural state; the males in particular, in a domestic state, not unfrequently destroy their offspring, though they do not eat them; whence it seems probable that domestication has the effect of eradicating from their nature the instinct of protection of the young, as well as the in

clination for digging, and probably other instincts. The females, nevertheless, in this state seem still more prolific than when wild; they will sometimes produce twenty-six young in sixty days. It is said, however, that after a particular race of rabbits has attained its maximum of developement in confinement, its prolific powers altogether fail.-GRIFFITH.

THE SQUIRREL FAMILY.-This elegant tribe of quadrupeds have two front teeth in each jaw; those in the upper jaw being wedge-shaped, those in the lower pointed: on each side in the upper jaw there are five grinders, and four in the lower; they have perfect collar bones, and in most species the tail is shed on each side.

(g) Moutier as quoted by Buffon.

any, we might give them some idea of its form, by comparing it to a rabbit;

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with shorter ears, and a longer tail. The tail, indeed, is alone sufficient to distinguish it from all others, as it is extremely long, beautiful and bushy, spreading like a fan, and which, when thrown up behind, covers the whole body. This serves the little animal for a double purpose; when erected, it serves, like an umbrella, as a secure protection from the injuries of the heat and cold; and when extended, it is very instrumental in promoting those vast leaps that the squirrel takes from tree to tree: nay, some

assert that it answers stil! a third purpose, and when the squirrel takes water, which it sometimes does upon a piece of bark, that its tail serves it instead of a sail. (g)

There are few wild animals in which there are so many varieties as in the squirrel. The common squirrel is of the size of a small rabbit, and is rather of a more reddish brown. The belly and breast are white; and the ears beautifully ornamented with long tufts of hair, of a deeper colour than that on the body. The eyes are large, black and lively; the legs are short and muscular, like those of the rabbit; but the toes longer, and the claws sharper, so as to fit it for climbing. When it eats, or dresses itself, it sits erect, like the hare or rabbit, making use of its fore legs as hands; and chiefly resides in trees. The grey Virginian squirrel, which Buffon calls the Petit Gris, is larger than a rabbit, and of a greyish colour. Its body and limbs are thicker than those of the common squirrel; and its ears are shorter, and without tufts at the point. The upper part of the body, and external part of the legs, are of a fine, whitish grey, with a beautiful red streak on each side lengthways. The tail is covered with very long, grey hair, variegated with black and white towards the extremity. This variety seems to be common to both continents; and in Sweden is seen to change colour in winter. The Barbary squirrel, of which Buffon makes three varieties, is of a mixed colour between red and black. Along the sides there are white and brown lines, which

the variety of its colours. Its belly is of a bright yellow its head and body

(g, Klein. Linnæus.

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