[Illustration]
This animal not possessing any means of self defence is furnished by
Providence with a high degree of fear. It is attentive to every alarm,
and is furnished with very long ears, which are tube-like, and catch the
most remote sounds. The eyes are so prominent, as to enable the animal
to see both before and behind. The Hare feeds in the evening, and sleeps
during the day, and, as he mostly lies on the ground, he has the feet
protected, both above and below, with a thick covering of hair. In a
moonlight evening many of these creatures may sometimes be seen starting
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 very swift, particularly in ascending hills. In winter they
generally choose a form exposed to the south, and in summer they change
this for one looking to the north: in both cases, they have the instinct
of commonly fixing on a place where the objects around them are nearly
of the colour of their bodies.
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