Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/508

476 tendency ; and in the same year letters patent were issued granting him a pension of. 20 per annum for life. The leisure of his old age appears to have been occupied with a revision of his chronicle, which he presented to Edward IV. It could not have been finished before, but it only comes down to the flight of Henry VI. to Scotland. The purpose of the writer being &quot; that Englishe men might have understanding of all affairs touching their own countree Even to his dayes from all antiquitee,&quot; he starts his narrative with Brutus the Trojan, and details the history of all the mythical kings. When he comes down to his own time a considerable part of the material is derived from his own experience. The Scottish portions are ani mated by strong national hostility : &quot; unto the Scots he could never be friend.&quot;

1em  HARE, the common name of all the species, excepting the rabbit, of Leporidce, a family of rodent mammals, dis tinguished from the rest of that order by the possession of four incisor teeth in the upper jaw, two in front, which are well developed and longitudinally grooved, and two exceed ingly small ones behind. The molars are formed for the mastication of vegetable food, an uneven surface being produced by the presence of transverse enamel plates which are worn down more slowly than the intermediate dentine. The teeth are without permanent roots, and thus the con stant waste at the surface is compensated for by continuous growth at the opposite extremity. Hares all possess long ears, and in most species the hind legs are much longer than those in front. They are without exception timid, defenceless animals, although during the breeding season two males have been known to fight together for possession of the female until one was killed ; while all the species are protectively coloured. They form a single genus (Lejms), containing from thirty-five to forty species according as certain forms are regarded as independent species, or merely as geographical varieties. They occur in all the great zoo logical regions of the world, but are especially characteristic of the northern and temperate areas of both hemispheres.

The common hare (Lepus iimidus, fig. 1) is a typical ex ample of the family. The ears in this species are longer than the head, and its hind legs are so long in comparison with those in front, that it is only by descending a hill diagonally that it can avoid overbalancing itself. It is found in all parts of Europe except the north of Russia, the Scandinavian peninsula, and Ireland, and is specially abundant in those countries in which it enjoys the protection of game laws. Its fur is usually of a tawny grey colour above and white beneath, with the upper surface of the short tail and the tips of the ears black. The colour of the fur, however, differs, considerably in different latitudes and at different seasons of the year, showing, for example, a tendency to become white during winter in northern countries, while assuming a reddish-yellow hue in the more genial climate of southern Europe. On the strength mainly of such outward differ ences various species have been described, but these have been found to be so linked together by intermediate forms as to satisfy most naturalists that they are merely climatal varieties of one species. The hare is a night-feeding animal,, remaining during the day on its &quot;-form,&quot; as the slight depression is called which it makes in the open field, usually among grass. This it leaves at nightfall to seek the fields of young wheat and other cereals whose tender herbage forms its favourite food. It is also fond of gnawing the bark of young trees, and thus often does great damage to plantations. In the morning it returns to its form, where it finds considerable protection in the close approach which the colour of its fur makes to that of its surroundings ; should it thus fail, however, to elude observation it depends for safety on its extraordinary fleetness. On the first alarm of danger it is said to sit erect and to reconnoitre, when it either seeks concealment by clapping close to the ground, or takes to instant flight. In the latter case its great speed,, and the cunning endeavours it makes to outwit its canine* pursuers, form the chief attractions of coursing. The hare takes readily to the water, where it swirns well ; and Yarrcll records an instance in which one was observed crossing an arm of the sea about a mile in width. Hares are remark ably prolific. They pair when scarcely a year old, and the female brings forth several broods in the year, each consist ing of from two to five leverets (from the French lievre), as the young are called. These have their sight at birth, and after being suckled for a month they are able to look after themselves. In Europe this species has never been known to breed in confinement. The hare was well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans.

In those parts where the common hare does not occur,. its place is taken by the varying or mountain hare (Lepus variabilis, fig. 2). It is found throughout the entire northern portion of the great Falaearctic region, from Ireland eastward to Japan, while it also occurs on the Pyrenees, the Alps, the highlands of Bavaria and the Caucasus, although altogether absent in the less elevated regions which connect those mountain ranges. Its presence in such isolated situa tions in company with many truly arctic plants is regarded as one of the many proofs of a former glacial epoch, during which boreal plants and animals were spread all over southern and central Europe. On the advent, however, of milder climatic conditions, this northern flora and fauna retired towards the Arctic Circle, leaving a few species, such 