in zoology, a genus of quadrupeds belonging to the order of glires. The characters are these: they have two fore teeth in each jaw; those in the upper jaw are double, the interior ones being smaller. There are four species, viz.
1. The timidus, or hare, has a short tail; the points of the ears are black; the upper-lip is divided up to the the nostrils; the length of the body is generally about a foot and a half; and the colour of the hair is reddish, interspersed with white. The hare is naturally a timid animal. He sleeps in his form, or seat, during the day, and feeds, copulates, &c., in the night. In a moon-light evening, a number of them are sometimes seen sporting together, leaping and pursuing each other: But the least motion, the falling of a leaf, alarms them; and then they all run off separately, each taking a different route. They are extremely swift in their motion, which is a kind of gallop, or a succession of quick leaps. When pursued, they always take to the higher grounds: as their fore feet are much shorter than the hind ones, they run with more ease up hill than down hill. The hare is endowed with all those instincts which are necessary for his own preservation. In winter he chules a form exposed to the south, and in summer to the north. He conceals himself among vegetables of the same colour with himself. Mr Fouilloux says, that he observed a hare, as soon as he heard the sound of the horn, or the noise of the dogs, although at a mile's distance, rise from her seat, swim across a rivulet, then lie down among the rushes, and by this means evade the scent of the dogs. After being chased for a couple of hours, a hare will sometimes push another from his form, and lie down in it himself. When hard pressed, the hare will mingle with a flock of sheep, run up an old wall and conceal himself among the grasses on the top of it, or cross a river several times at small distances. He never runs against the wind, or straight forward; but constantly doubles about, in order to make the dogs lose their scent.
It is remarkable, that the hare, although ever so frequently pursued by the dogs, seldom leaves the place where she was brought forth, or even the form in which she usually sits. It is common to find them in the same place next day, after being long and keenly chased the day before. The females are more gross than the males, and have less strength and agility; they are likewise more timid, and never allow the dogs to approach so near their form before rising as the males. They likewise practise more arts, and double more frequently, than the males.
The hare is diffused almost over every climate; and, notwithstanding they are everywhere hunted, their species never diminishes. They are in a condition of propagating the first year of their lives; the females go with young about 30 days, and produce four or five at a time; and as soon as they have brought forth, they again admit the embraces of the male; so that they may be said to be always pregnant. The eyes of the young are open at birth; the mother suckles them about 20 days, after which they separate from her and procure their own food. The young never go far from the place where they were brought forth; but still they live solitary, and make forms about thirty paces distant from each other: Thus, if a young hare be found anywhere, you may almost be certain of finding several others within a very small distance. The hare is not so savage as his manners would indicate. He is gentle, and susceptible of a kind of education. He is pretty easily tamed, and will even show a kind of attachment to the people of the house: But still this attachment is not so strong or lasting as to engage him to become altogether domestic; for although taken when very young, and brought up in the house, he no sooner arrives at a certain age, than he takes the first opportunity of recovering his liberty and flying to the fields. The hare lives about seven or eight years. He feeds upon grass, and other vegetables. His flesh is excellent food. See Plate CIII. fig. 2.
2. The cuniculus, or rabbit, has a very short tail, and naked ears. The rabbit, though it has a great resemblance to the hare, is very different in his manners; and they have such a rooted antipathy to one another, that no art can engage them to have any sexual intercourse. The fecundity of the rabbit is still greater than that of the hare; they multiply so prodigiously in some countries, that the product of the fields is hardly sufficient to maintain them. They devour herbage of all kinds, roots, grain, fruits, &c. They are in a condition for producing at the age of six months; like the hare, the female is almost constantly in season; she goes with young about 30 days, and brings forth from four to eight at a litter. A few days before littering, she digs a new hole in the earth, not in a straight line, but in a zigzag form; the bottom of the hole she enlarges every way; she then pulls off a great quantity of hair from her belly, of which she makes a kind of bed for her young. During the two first days after birth, she never leaves them, but when pressed with hunger, and then she eats quickly and returns; In this manner she suckles and attends her young for six weeks. All this time, both the hole and the young are concealed from the male; sometimes when the female goes out, in order to deceive the male, she fills up the mouth of the hole with earth mixed with her own urine. But when the young ones begin to come to the mouth of the hole, and to eat such herbs as the mother brings to them, the father seems to know them; he takes them between his paws, smooths their hair, and caresses them with great fondness. The rabbit is supposed not to be a native of the northern parts of Europe, but to have been originally brought from Greece and Spain. The rabbit lives about seven years, and his flesh is good. Their colour is various, some of them being red, others white, but the most general colour is grey. See Plate CIII. fig. 3.
3. The capensis, has a tail about the length of his head, and red legs. It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope.
4. The brasiliensis has no tail. It is found in South America.
astronomy. See Astronomy, p. 487.