in the morning and evening to feed. The males are apt to destroy the young; but their holes protect them from those enemies that destroy such vast numbers of young hares. Their skins are a great article of commerce; vast numbers of them are exported to China: their fur, like that of the other hares, is of great use in the hat manufacture.

The Angora rabbit, like the goat and cat of the same place, is remarkable for its hair, which is long, waved, and of a silky fineness.

The hooded rabbit is another variety still more singular. It has a double skin over its back, into which it can withdraw its head; and another under its throat, into which it can with-draw its forefeet. It has small holes in the loose skin on its back, to admit light to its eyes when its head is covered. Its body is ash-coloured: its head and ears brown. It is preserved in the museum, inscribed A Russian Rabbit;" but Mr. Pennant says it is unknown in that empire.

THE BAIKAL HARE.

The tail of the Baikal hare is longer than that of the rabbit; in the male, the ears are longer in proportion than those of the varying hare: its fur is of the same colour with that of the common hare, It is red about the neck and feet. Its tail is black above, and white beneath. Its size is between that of the common, and that of the varying hare. The pame here given it, marks its country. It extends from the lake Baikal as far as Thibet. The Tanguts call it Rangwa, and consecrate it to the spots of the moon. It agrees with the common rabbit in the colour of its flesh; but does not burrow. When pursued, it runs for shelter straight to the holes of the rocks, without any circuitous doublings, like those of the common hare; so that it agrees in nature, neither with the hare nor the rabbit. The

Mongols call it Tolai. Its fur is bad, and is of no use in commerce.

THE CAPE HARE.

The long ears of the Cape hare are dilated in the middle. On the outside they are naked, and of a rose colour: their inside and edges are covered with short grey hairs. Its crown and back are dusky, mixed with tawny: its cheeks and sides ash-coloured: its breast, belly, and legs, rustcoloured. Its tail, which it carriès upwards, is of a pale ferruginous colour. It is of the size of a rabbit, and inhabits the country for three days march north of the Cape of Good Hope. It is there called the Mountain Hare; for it lives only in the rocky mountains, and does not burrow. It is difficult to shoot it, as, on the sight of any one, it instantly runs into the fissures of the rocks. The same species probably extends as high as Senegal.

Allied to this, seems the vischachas, mentioned, by Acosta and Feuillee, in their accounts of Peru. They compare them to hares or rabbits, and say, that they inhabit the colder parts of the country; that their hair is very soft, and of a mouse colour; that the tail is pretty long, and turned up; that the ears and whiskers are like those of the common rabbit. In the time of the Incas, their hair was spun, and wove into cloth, which was so fine, as to be used only by the nobility.

We come to the second class of hares, those without tails.

THE BRAZILIAN HARE.

The Brazilian hare, like the common kind, has very large ears, and a white ring round its neck. Its face is of a reddish colour; its chin is white; its eyes are black; and its colour like that of the common hare, only a little darker. Its belly is whitish. It has no tail; and some want the ring

round the neck. They live in the woods; and are very prolific; and are reckoned very good meat. They do not burrow. They are found both in Brazil and in Mexico, where they are called Citli.

THE ALPINE HARE.

The Alpine hare has short brown rounded ears, a long head, and very long whiskers, with two very long hairs above each eye. Its fur is ferruginous, tipt with white, and intermixed with several long dusky hairs; but, at the first look, the whole animal seems of a bright bay. It is only about nine in-ches long. They are first seen on the Altaic Chain, and extend to lake Baikal in Tartary, and from thence to Kamschatka and the Fox Isles. They inhabit always the middle region of the snowy mountains, in the roughest places, wooded, and abounding with herbs and moisture. They sometimes burrow; but are more frequently found in crevices between the rocks, in pairs, or more, according to conveniency. In cloudy weather they assemble and lie on the rocks, and emit a sound, so like that of a sparrow, as to deceive the hearer, On the report of a gun, they run into their holes; but soon come out again, supposing it to be a clap of thunder, to which they are so much used in their lofty habitations. By wonderful instinct, they make a provision against the rigorous season in their inclement seats. Towards autumn, a company of them collect vast heaps of choice herbs and grasses, nicely dried, which they place either beneath the overhanging rocks, or in the chasms, or round the trunk of some tree. The way to these heaps is marked by a worn path. The heaps are formed like conoid ricks of hay, and are of various sizes, according to the number of the society employed in forming them. They are sometimes of a man's

height, and many feet in diameter, but usually about three feet.

Thus they wisely provide their winter's stock, otherwise they must perish, being prevented by the depth of the snow from quitting their retreats in quest of food.

They select the best of vegetables; and crop them when in the fullest vigour. These they inake into the best and greenest hay, by the judicious manner in which they dry them. These ricks too are the origin of fertility amidst the rocks; for their remains, mixed with the dung of the animals, rotted, in the otherwise barren chasm, creates a soil productive of vegetables.

These ricks are also of great service to those men who devote themselves to the laborious employment of sable hunting. Being obliged to go far from home, their horses would often perish for want, if not supported by the provisions of these industrious little animals. The people of Jakutz are said to feed both their horses and cattle with the reliques of the winter stock of these hares. Such supply may be serviceable to some in the spring, when their own stock is exhausted; but, should they depend solely on these feeble mountaineers, they would deserve to lose both horses and cattle every hard winter.

These hares are neglected as food by man; but they are the prey of sables, and of the Siberian weasel, which are joint inhabitants of the same moun, tains. They are likewise greatly infested by a sort of gadfly, which, in August and September, lodges its eggs in their skin, which often proves fatal to these feeble and defenceless, though industri

ous creatures.

THE OGOTONA HARE.

The Ogotona hare has long oblong oval ears, a little rounded; shorter whiskers than the former

species; fur long and smooth; light grey in the middle; white at the ends, intermixed with a few dusky hairs; with a yellowish spot on the nose; and a space about the rump of the same colour. Its limbs also are yellowish on the outsides, and its belly white. It is only about six inches long. The male weighs from six ounces and a half, to seven and a quarter; the female, from four to four and three quarters. It inhabits the same countries as the Alpine hare, and lives in the open vallies, and on gravelly or.rocky naked mountains, under heaps of stones; but in a sandy soil they burrow, leaving two or three entrances. Their holes run obliquely: in these they make their nests of short grass. They wander out chiefly in the night. Their voice is excessively shrill, in a note like that of a sparrow, twice or thrice repeated, but very easily to be distinguished from shat of the Alpine hare. They are fond of the bark of a sort of service tree, and of the dwarf elm. Before the approach of severe cold, they collect great quantities of herbs, and fill their holes with them. Directed by the same instinct as the former species, they form, in autumn, their ricks of hay, of a hemispherical form, about a foot high and wide. In the spring these elegant heaps disappear. They copulate in the spring. About the latter end of June their young are observed to be full grown. They are the prey of hawks, magpies and owls; but the cat manul makes the greatest havock among them. The ermine and fitchet are equally their enemies.

THE CALLING HARE.

This species, called by the Tartars Ittsitskan, or the barking mouse, has a longer head in proportiou to its size, which is very diminutive, than is usual with hares. The head is thickly covered with fur, even to the tip of the nose, It has large whiskers;