[Pl. 74.]][I 116.
Entrance to Rabbit-Burrow.
Bare slope in front formed of excavated earth.

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[Pl. 75.]][I 117.
Brown Hare.
Lepus europæus.

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Brown Hare (Lepus europæus, Pallas).

Although in general form and structure the Hare is similar to the closely related Rabbit, there are differences so great as to have induced recent systematists to put them into different genera; and, even superficially, they are sufficiently unlike to enable country folk to keep them distinct under different names. These differences are evident in the longer body, the great length of the hind limbs, the longer ears with their invariable black tips, and the tawny colour of the fur of the upper parts. To these distinctions they can add the patent facts that whilst the Rabbit is a sociable beast, associating in large communities, the Hare is as solitary and retired as a hermit.

There has never been any suggestion that the Hare's title to rank as a real native of Britain is open to doubt, for its name is Anglo-Saxon, and identical with that in use in Denmark and Sweden. It is widely distributed in England, Wales and Scotland up to about 2000 feet elevation; but in Ireland (which has a separate species of its own) the Brown Hare is not a native. It has been a favourite animal of the chase from the earliest times of which we have records; and our ancient sportsmen had age-names for it as for Deer. Thus, in its first year it was a Leveret, in the second year a Hare, and in the third a Great Hare. The male is distinguished as Jack-Hare, and the female as Doe.