in zoology, a genus of quadrupeds belonging to the order of glires. The characters are: They have two fore-teeth in each jaw; those in the upper-jaw are double, the interior ones being smaller.

1. The timidus, or common hare, has a short tail; the points of the ears are black; the upper-lip is divided up to 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 chooses a form exposed to the south, and in summer to the north. He conceals himself among vegetables of the same colour with himself. Mr. Pouilloux 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 bushes, 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 grass 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 graceful 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 30 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 is 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.

Hares are very subject to fleas. Linnaeus tells us, that the Dalecarlians make a sort of cloth, called felt, of the fur; which, by attracting these insects, preserves the wearer from their troublesome attacks. The hair of this creature makes a great article in the hat manufacture; and, as our country cannot supply a sufficient quantity, a great deal is annually imported from Russia and Siberia. The hare was reckoned a great delicacy among the Romans; the Britons, on the contrary, thought it impious even to taste it: yet this animal was cultivated by them, either for the pleasure of the chase, or for the purposes of superstition; as we are informed, that Boadicea, immediately before her last conflict with the Romans, let loose a hare she had concealed in her bosom, which taking what was deemed a fortunate course, animated her soldiers by the omen of an easy victory over a timid enemy.

2. The variabilis, or varying hare of Pallas, has soft hair, which in summer is grey, with a slight mixture of black and tawny; the ears are shorter, and the legs more slender, than those of the common hare; the tail is entirely white, even in summer; and the feet are most closely and warmly furred. In winter, the whole animal changes to a snowy whiteness, except the tips and edges of the ears, which remain black, as are the soles of the feet, on which, in Siberia, the fur is doubly thick, and of a yellow colour. It is less than the common species.—These animals inhabit the highest Scottish Alps, Norway, Lapland, Russia, Siberia, Kamtschatka, and the banks of the Volga, and Hudson's Bay. In Scotland, they keep on the tops of the highest hills, and never descend into the vales; nor do they ever mix with the common hare, though these abound in this neighbourhood. They do not run fast; and are apt to take shelter in clefts of rocks. They are easily tamed, and are full of frolic. They are fond of honey and caraway comfits; and they are observed to eat their own dung before a storm. This species changes its colour in September; resumes its grey coat in April; and in the extreme cold of Greenland only is always white. Both kinds of hares are common in Siberia, on the banks of the Volga, and in the Orenburg government. The one never changes colour; the other, native of the same place, constantly affumes the whiteness of the snow during winter. This it does, not only in the open air and in a state of liberty, but, as experiment has proved, even when kept tame, and preferred in houses in the stove-warmed apartments, in which it experiences the same changes of colour as if it had dwelt on the snowy plains.—They collect together, and are seen in troops of five or six hundred, migrating in spring, and returning in autumn. They are compelled to this by the want of subsistence, quitting quitting in the winter the lofty hills, the southern boundaries of Siberia, and seek the plains and northern wooded parts, where vegetables abound; and towards spring seek again the mountainous quarters.

Mr Muller says, he once saw two black hares, in Siberia, of a wonderful fine gloa, and of as full a black as jet. Near Cafan was taken another, in the middle of the winter 1768. These specimens were much larger than the common kind.

In the southern and western provinces of Russia is a mixed breed of hares, between this and the common species. It sustains, during winter only, a partial loss of colour: the sides, and more exposed parts of the ears and legs, in that season becoming white; the other parts retaining their colours. This variety is unknown beyond the Urallian chain. It is called by the Russians rufack; they take them in great numbers in snares, and export their skins to England and other places for the manufacture of hats. The Russians and Tartars, like the Britons of old, hold the flesh of hares in detestation, esteeming it impure: that of the variable, in its white state, is excessively insipid.

There have been several instances of what may be called monsters in this species, horned hares, having excrescences growing out of their heads, like to the horns of the roe-buck. Such are those figured in Gmelin's history of quadrupeds, p. 634; in the Museum Regium Hafniae, no. 48, tab. iv.; and in Klein's history of quadrupeds, 32, tab. iii.; and again described in Wurmius's museum, p. 321, and in Grew's museum of the Royal Society. These instances have occurred in Saxony, in Denmark, and near Astracan.

3. The Americanus, American hare, or hedge-coney, has the ears tipped with grey: the upper part of the tail is black, the lower white: the neck and body are mixed with cinereous, ruff-colour, and black; the legs are of a pale ferruginous colour; and the belly is white; the forelegs are shorter, and the hind legs longer, in proportion, than those of the common hare. In length it is 18 inches; and weighs from 3 to 4½ pounds.—This species inhabits all parts of North America. In New Jersey, and the colonies south of that province, it retains its colour the whole year. In New England, Canada, and about Hudson's Bay, at the approach of winter, it changes its short summer's fur for one very long, silky, and filvery, even to the roots of the hairs; the edges of the ears only preserving their colour. At that time these hares are in the highest season for the table; and are of vast use to those who winter in Hudson's Bay, where they are taken in great abundance in snares made of brass-wire, to which they are led by a hedge made for that purpose, with holes left before the snares for the animals to pass through.—They breed once or twice a-year, and have from five to seven at a time. They do not migrate, like the preceding; but always haunt the same places; neither do they burrow; but lodge under fallen timber, and in hollow trees. They breed in the grass; but in spring shelter their young in the trees, to which they also run when pursued; from which, in the southern colonies, the hunters force them by means of a hooked stick, or by making a fire, and driving them out by the smoke.

4. The tolai, or Baikal hare, has a tail longer than that of a rabbit; and the ears are longer in the male in proportion than those of the varying hare: the fur is of the colour of the common hare; and the size between that of the common and the varying hare. It inhabits the country beyond lake Baikal, and extends through the great Gobee even to Thibet. The Tungus call it Rangwo, and consecrate it among the spots of the moon. The Mongols call it Tolai. It agrees with the common rabbit in colour of the flesh; but does not burrow, running instantly (without taking a ring as the common hare does) for shelter, when pursued, into holes of rocks. The fur is bad, and of no use in commerce.

5. The Capensis, or Cape hare, has long ears dilated in the middle; the outsides naked, and of a rosy colour, the inside and edges covered with short grey hairs: the crown and back are of a dusky colour mixed with tawny; the cheeks and sides cinereous; the breast, belly, and legs, ruff-coloured: the tail is bushy, carried upwards; and of a pale ferruginous colour. The animal is about the size of a rabbit. It inhabits the country three days north of the Cape of Good Hope; where it is called the mountain hare, for it lives only in the rocky mountains, and does not burrow. It is difficult to shoot it, as it instantly, on the sight of any one, runs into the fissures of the rocks.

Allied to this, in Mr Pennant's opinion, seems the viscachos, or viscachas, mentioned by Acosta and Feuillée, in their accounts of Peru: they compare them to hares or rabbits. The last says, they inhabit the colder parts of the country. Their hair is very soft, and of a moufle-colour; the tail is pretty long, and turns up; and the ears and whiskers are like those of the common rabbit. In the time of the Incas, the hair was spun, and wove into cloth, which was so fine as to be used only by the nobility.

6. The cuniculus, or rabbit, has a very short tail, and naked ears. The colour of the fur, in a wild state, is brown; the tail black above, white beneath: in a tame state the general colour varies to black, pied, and quite white; and the eyes are of a fine red. The native country of this species is Spain, where they were formerly taken for ferrets, as is practised in this country at present. They love a temperate and warm climate, and are incapable of bearing great cold; so that in Sweden they are obliged to be kept in houses. They abound in Britain. Their furs make a considerable article in the hat manufactories; and of late such part of the fur as is unfit for that purpose, has been found as good as feathers for stuffing beds and bolstering. Numbers of the skins are annually exported into China. The English counties most noted for rabbits are Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire. Methold, in the last county, is famous for the best kind for the table: the soil there is sandy, and full of mosses and the carex gras. Rabbits swarm in the isles of Orkney, where their skins form a considerable article of commerce. The rabbits of those isles are in general grey; those which inhabit the hills grow hoary in winter.

The variety called the silver-haired rabbit was formerly in great esteem for lining of clothes, and their skins were sold for 3s. a-piece; but since the introduction of more elegant furs, their price has fallen to 6d. The Sunk Island in the Humber was once famous for a moufle-coloured sort, which has since been extirpated. by reason of the injury they did to the banks by burrowing. — Other varieties are,

The Angora rabbit, with hair long, waved, and of a silky fineness, like that of the goat of Angora;—and the Hooded Rabbit, described by Edwards as having a double skin over the back into which it can withdraw its head, and another under the throat in which it can place its forefoot: it has small holes in the loose skin on the back, to admit light to the eyes. The colour of the body is cinereous; of the head and ears, brown.

The fecundity of the rabbit is still greater than that of the hare. They will breed seven times in the year, and the female sometimes brings eight young ones at a time. Supposing this to happen regularly for four years, the number of rabbits from a single pair will amount to 1,274,840. By this account we might justly apprehend being overlooked with these animals; but a great number of enemies prevents their increase; not only men, but hawks and beasts of prey making dreadful havoc among them. Notwithstanding all these different enemies, however, we are told by Pliny and Strabo, that they once proved such a nuisance to the inhabitants of the Balearic islands, that they were obliged to implore the assistance of a military force from Augustus in order to exterminate them. They devour herbage of all kinds, roots, grain, fruits, &c. They are in a condition for generating at the end of six months; and, 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 hole in the earth, not in a straight line, but in a zig-zag form: the bottom of this hole she enlarges every way, and 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; and in this manner she suckles and attends her young for five weeks. All this time both the hole and the young are concealed from the male; sometimes, when the female goes out, she, in order to deceive the male, 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 cares for them with great fondness.

The following species are without tails.

7. The Alpinus, or Alpine rabbit, has short, broad, rounded ears; a long head, and very long whiskers, with two very long hairs above each eye: the colour of the fur at the bottom is dusky, towards the ends of a bright ferruginous colour; the tips white, and intermixed are several long dusky hairs, though on first inspection the whole seems of a bright bay. The length of the animal is nine inches. This species is first seen on the Altaic chain; extends to lake Baikal; from thence to Kamtschata; and, as is said, found in the new-discovered Fox or Aleutian islands. They inhabit always the middle region of the snowy mountains, in the rudest places, wooded and abounding with herbs and moisture. They sometimes form burrows between the rocks, and oftener lodge in the crevices. They are generally found in pairs: but in cloudy weather they collect together, and lie on the rocks, and give a keen whistle, so like that of a sparrow, as to deceive the hunter. 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 feats. A company of them, towards autumn, collect together vast heaps of choice herbs and grasses, nicely dried, which they place either beneath the over-hanging rocks, or between the chasms, or round the trunk of some tree. The way to these heaps is marked by a worn path. In many places the herbs appeared scattered, as if to be dried in the sun and harvested properly. The heaps are formed like round or conoid ricks; 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. Without this provision of winter's stock they must perish, being prevented by the depth of snow from quitting their retreats in quest of food. They select the best of vegetables, and crop them when in the fullest vigour, which they make into the best and greenest hay by the judicious manner in which they dry it. These ricks are the origin of fertility amidst the rocks; for the relics, mixed with the dung of the animals, rot in the barren chasms, and create a soil productive of vegetables. These ricks are also of great service to those people who devote themselves to the laborious employment of sable-hunting: for being obliged to go far from home, their horses would often perish for want if they had not the provision of these little industrious animals to support them; which is easily to be discovered by their height and form, even when covered with snow. It is for this reason that this little creature has a name among every Siberian and Tartarian nation, which otherwise would have been overlooked and despised. The people of Jakutz are said to feed both their horses and cattle with the relics of the winter stock of these hares. These animals are neglected as a food by mankind; but are the prey of fables and the Siberian weefel, which are joint inhabitants of the mountains. They are likewise greatly infested by a sort of gadfly, which lodges its egg in their skin in August and September, which often proves destructive to them.

8. The ogotona has oblong oval ears, a little pointed with shorter whiskers than the former, and hairs long and smooth: the colour of those on the body is brown at the roots, light grey in the middle, and white at the ends intermixed with a very few dusky hairs: there is a yellowish spot on the nose, and space about the rump of the same colour: the outside of the limbs are yellowish; the belly is white. The length is about six inches: weight of the male, from 6½ to 7½ ounces; of the female, from 4 to 4½. This species inhabits only the country beyond lake Baikal, and from thence is common in all parts of the Mongolian desert, and the vast desert of Gobée, which extends on the back of China and Tibet, even to India. It frequents the open valleys and gravelly or rocky naked mountains. These little creatures are called by the Mongols Ogotona; and are found in vast abundance. They live under heaps of stones; or burrow in the sandy soil, leaving two or three entrances, which all run obliquely. They make a nest of soft grass; and the old females make for security a number of burrows near each other, that they may Lepus may if disturbed retreat from one to the other. They wander out chiefly in the night. Their voice is excessively shrill, and emits a note like that of a sparrow, twice or thrice repeated, but very easily to be distinguished from that of the Alpine rabbit. They live principally on the tender bark of a sort of service and the dwarf-elm; in the spring, on different herbs. Before the approach of severe cold, in the early spring, they collect great quantities of herbs, and fill their holes with them, which the inhabitants of the country consider as a sure sign of change of weather. Directed by the same instinct with the former species, they form in autumn their ricks of hay of a hemispherical shape, about a foot high and wide: in the spring these elegant heaps disappear, and nothing but the relics are seen. They copulate in the spring, and 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 havoc among them; and the ermine and fitchet are equally their enemy.

9. The pusillus, or calling rabbit, with a long head thickly covered with fur even to the tip of the nose; numerous hairs in the whiskers; ears large and rounded; legs very short, and the soles furred beneath: its whole coat is very soft, long, and smooth, with a thick, long, fine down beneath, of a brownish lead-colour; the hairs are of the same colour, towards the ends of a light grey and tipped with black; the lower part of the body is hoary: the sides and ends of the fur are yellowish. The length of the animal is about six inches; weight from 3½ to 4½ oz. but in winter scarcely 2½. This species inhabits the south-east parts of Russia, and about all the ridge of hills spreading southward from the Urallian chain; also about the Iritsh, and in the west part of the Altai chain; but nowhere in the east beyond the Oby. They delight in the most sunny valleys and rocky hills, especially near the edges of woods, to which they run on any alarm. They live in so concealed a manner as very rarely to be seen: but are often taken in winter in the snares laid for the ermines; so are well known to the hunters. About the Volga they are called semel'noe Snesbik, or ground hare; the Tartar, from their voice, style them sfbot/sfbot or sfstskh, or the barking mouse: the Kalmucks call them sfjla. They choose for their habitations a dry spot, amidst bushes covered with a firm sod, preferring the western sides of the hills. In these they burrow, leaving a very small hole for the entrance; and forming long galleries, in which they make their nests. Those of the old ones and females are numerous and intricate: so that their place would be scarcely known but for their excrements; and even those they drop, by a wise instinct, under some bush, left their dwelling should be discovered by their enemies among the animal creation. Their voice alone betrays their abode; it is like the piping of a quail, but deeper, and so loud as to be heard at the distance of half a German mile. It is repeated by just intervals, thrice, four times, and often six. The voice is emitted at night and morning; in the day, except in rainy and cloudy weather. It is common to both sexes; but the female is silent for some time after parturition, which is about the beginning of May N.S. She brings forth six at a time, blind and naked; which she suckles often, and covers carefully with the materials of her nest. These most harmless and inoffensive animals never go from their holes. They feed and make their little excursions by night: they are easily made tame; and will scarcely bite when handled. The males in confinement are observed to attack one another, and express their anger by a grunting noise.

There are three or four other species of Lepus. Several are figured on Plate CCLXIX.

hare, in astronomy, a constellation of the southern hemisphere; whose stars in Ptolemy's catalogue are 12; in that of Tycho's 13; and in the Britannic 19.