CHAPTER VII - THE SOUTHERN HARES

Summary

Description.—Head short; nose blunt; eyes prominent; ears far back and very near each other; whiskers long and thick; body long and clothed with long hair, beneath which is a soft downy fur; the hind-legs are nearly twice the length of the fore-legs; the feet thickly clothed with hair, so that the impression of the claws is not generally visible even when passing over snowy ground; the tail short and covered with fur. In summer the fur on its body is an inch and a-half long; in winter, perhaps half an inch longer.

Colour.—In summer the whole of the upper part of the body is of a reddish-brown; the hairs are at their roots of a bluish ash-tint; then comes a yellowish-red, and the part next the tips reddish-brown; nearly all the hairs are tipped with black—this colour predominates towards the rump; the whiskers black; ears brown with narrow black border towards outer edge; the pupil of the eye dark; the iris light yellow; the nose, chin, and throat are white; the under surface of the body and inner surface of legs, white; tail brown above, white beneath. In the Northern States it becomes nearly purely white in winter.

Size.—The American hare varies much in size. The following dimensions are the average: Length from point of nose to end of tail, twenty-one inches; length of ear, three and a-half inches; from heel to end of middle toe five inches and a-half.