clude there are others not far from her. The natural life of a hare is from eight to nine years, but one of Cowper's hares lived to be eleven years and eleven months old.

This inoffensive creature has so many foes to contend with, that it seldom, if ever, reaches the natural term of its existence.

In polar countries the hare changes its tawny or russet coat for one of silvery whiteness. This seems to be provided by the benevolent author of nature as a means of self-defence for eluding the vigilance of its enemies, who are not so well able to distinguish it from the snow-covered ground over which it moves.

The hare, guided by that peculiar instinct which has been as aptly as beautifully termed, by a modern writer of some eminence,* "God's gift to the weak,"

* The authoress of "Solitary Hours" has thus expressed herself in an exquisite little poem, called "The Reed Sparrow's Nest," which appeared in The New Year's Gift," a small volume edited by Mrs. Alaric Watts.

chooses her retreat where the surrounding objects are of a similar colour with her own russet coat. The fallow fields, the brown heath, or beds of withered fern, among decayed leaves, and sheltering underwood, she makes her form; and though the most defenceless and timid of all animals, instinct supplies her with means of security, which, if it displays little courage, shows a sagacity which courage alone could not have supplied.

When sorely pressed by pursuing hounds, she will oftentimes start another hare from her form, and lie down in it herself, thus diverting the danger by presenting a new object for pursuit. Sometimes she will commit herself to the watery element, crossing a river or ditch several times successively; by which means the dogs often lose the scent, and she eludes their vigilance. Various are the stratagems adopted by this little creature for securing herself: sometimes she has been known to leap on to the top of a wall or ruined building, and

squat down among the long grass and weeds, and even venture into the abodes of her enemy, man; or not unfrequently, with admirable sagacity, find refuge under the door of the sheep-cote, and mingle with the flock, as if conscious that here she was safe from pursuit, making the weakness of the timid sheep her bulwark of defence.

Having attained a place of security like this, no vigilance can force her to abandon it. Hares are alike the prey of man and beast, and even of insects, which torment them exceedingly, and often force them to abandon their form, and choose a distant retreat less exposed to their attacks.

Hares chew the cud and part the upper lip, which they keep in constant motion: they seldom utter any sound, unless in pain or sudden peril, when their cry is sharp, piercing, and expressive of agony. They are considered unclean by the Jews, and are among the animals forbidden by the Mosaical law.

These are all the particulars I have been

able to collect, likely to interest and prove instructive to my young readers; to whom I hope my gleanings may not be totally devoid of entertainment.

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CHAPTER VI.

ANECDOTES OF PAPA'S MONKEY.

ALL children love hearing or reading stories or anecdotes of monkeys. For my own part I must confess, nothing delighted me more when a child, than listening to monkey stories; and when a little older, and I was able to read for myself, I greatly relished the amusing anecdotes related of these droll animals, by the ingenious author of “Sandford and Merton."

Papa's monkey was presented to him by the captain of a merchant-vessel, who brought Ned (for so he was named) from the island of Ceylon, where monkeys used once to be held in such high estimation by the natives, that they even regarded them as objects worthy of adoration and worship;