A white hare, of which species some numbers have appeared in this and the neighbouring northern states, within four years past, before that period unknown

Object Status:

Unlocated

Primary Source Reference:

Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), 28 Aug 1792

Notes:

Probably the virginianus subspecies of the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), which occurs in Pennsylvania and whose fur turns white in the winter.

On 6 Oct 1805 Jefferson sent to Peale two skins of a different white hare (actually the white-tailed jackrabbit, Lepus townsendii) that he had received from Meriwether Lewis. (Jefferson Papers, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-2444 [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of Thomas Jefferson])

Peale's Common Name:

White hare

Current Common Name:

Snowshoe hare

Current Scientific Name

Lepus americanus