Mark Cheatham, age 8, of Wichita, Kansas, for his question:

Is it true that hares are not rabbits?

Ordinary folk like ourselves class all the hares and rabbits as bunny type animals. , Scientists are more fussy than ordinary folk. A here, they tell us, is not a rabbit. However, the two bunnies are enough alike to be cousins. Even the scientists class them in the same animal family.

The experts tell us that the frisky Sack rabbit is really a here. A pet Belgian here is really a rabbit. This makes us wonder about the snowshoe rabbit o! the far north the fluffy bunny who changes his brows summer coat to a winter coat of snowy white. Surely this fellow must be a real rabbit. Not so, say the experts. The snowshoe rabbit is really a bare. All this topsy turvy talk is bewildering to ordinary folk. These bunnies look so much alike that we wonder how anyone can sort them into rabbits and hates.

But the experts assure us cheerfully that the sorting job is no problem at all, even for ordinary folk. The trick is to start early, very early to the life of the bunny. When you know the trick, you can tell at once whether a newborn bunny is a rabbit or a hate. The difference between them begins at birth. .

Mrs. Hare hops boldly through the open meadows and across the wide prairies. She crouches to rest under sheltering bushes and grasses. She has no burrow or home of her owns. Before her babies arrive, she scrapes together a grassy nest, often under a low bush. Her children are born fully clothed in furry brownish grey coats. Their bright baby eyes are open and theft perky ears are alert.

The glassy cradle on the ground is called a "form" and the baby bares are called "leverets." They are fed on mother's milk but even the day old smarties hop around exploring the world. Mrs. Hare teaches them to forage for themselves and the frisky leverets soon go off on their own. ,

Mrs. Rabbit, as a rule, is a smaller bunny and not as bold as a bare. Her babies are born in a cozy nest, lined with fur torn from her soft coat. You could tell in a moment that they are not leverets. For infant rabbits are born bare and blind and quite helpless. But you are not likely to get a glimpse of them because theft cozy cradle is hidden inside a dark burrow. And Mrs. Rabbit carefully screens the door to the burrow with grasses whe she goes out to nibble hfx food. When she returns, she feeds her little ones on mother's milk and cuddles them through the night.

Day by day, the helpless babes grow stronger and in a few weeks, Mrs. Rabbit takes them out to see the world. They now have neatly fitting fur coats, bright eyes and perky ears. At this stage, it is too late for moat ordinary folk to tell whether these frisky young bunnies are rabbits or hares.

Experts allow that the rabbits and the bares are cousins  even though baby rabbits are very different from baby bares. They are all classed in the animal family Leporidae.This fancy scientific word means the bare type animals. The March bare and the fluffy

Belgian bare are really rabbit members of this family. So is the cute cottontail. The jack rabbit and the snowshoe rabbit are the hates of the family.