1898.] 6g 



NOTES ON THE INTRODUCTION OF THE BROWN 



HARE INTO IRELAND. 



WITH ADDITIONAI, REMARKS ON OTHER INTRODUCTIONS OP 

 HARES, BOTH BROWN AND BLUE, IN THE BRITISH ISI«ES. 



BY G. E. H. BARRETT- HAMII^TON, B.A. 



The publication of Dr. Scharff's remarkable and suggestive 

 paper^ "On the Origin of the European Fauna," wherein 

 he alludes (pages 435 and 471) to the frequent attempts 

 made by sportsmen to establish the Brown or English Hare 

 {Lepus eicropcBus, Pall.), in Ireland, reminds me that I have 

 for some time been under a promise to him to publish the 

 notes which I possess on this subject. For these I am largely 

 indebted to the kindness of several of my correspondents, 

 who have taken considerable trouble to help me in the collec- 

 tion of information, and to none more so than to my friend 

 the late Mr. E- G. Pennington. 



My notes^ lay no claim to completeness, but a series of 

 inquiries extended over a course of several years has failed 

 to add to them, and I, therefore, think it best to publish them 

 as they are, knowing as I do, that they may be of use to 

 those who like Dr. Scharff are trying to unravel the mysteries 

 of our fauna and flora. They are, at all events, amply suffi- 

 cient to prove the possibility of permanently establishing the 

 English or Brown Hare in Ireland. 



Co. Armagh. 

 English Hares are said to have been established in Lord Lurgan's 

 Park at Lurgan for over thirty years, and my informant, who has had 

 over twenty years experience of them, states that he never knew them 

 to interbreed with the Irish Hares. Their quality was considered much 

 above that of the latter. Lord Lurgan has very kindly corroborated 

 this {in lit. of Dec. 31st, 1897), and informs me that "in former days 

 there were a great many" of these hares at Lurgan, and that they did 

 very well there. Lord Lurgan says that some of the English Hares were 

 turned down inside a walled demesne, and a few others outside. In both 

 cases there were large quantities of Irish Hares on the ground. 



1 Proc. R. I. Acad.f 3rd ser., vol. iv., No. 3, July, 1897. 



^ The present paper includes, amplifies or corrects a few notes on the 

 same subject which appeared in the Irish Sportsman newspaper of 19th, 

 September, 1891 (p. 486), and in the volume of the " Fur and Feather 

 Series" on the Hare (Natural History by Rev. H. A, Macpherson), at 

 page 7 (1896). 



A3 



