326 BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



this is the season to distinguish easily between a buck and a 

 doe ; but experts can go wrong, though they can tell rightly 

 four out of five times. And hares prefer at this season 

 the rush marshes, the thickly cropped wastes where the 

 rushes grow in scattered islets in a sea of soft, withered 

 white grass — marshes not beloved of birds, though the 

 grasshopper-warbler is at times found there. In these rush- 

 marshes, in great rush-tussocks, you will find the moist and 

 cool forms marked with their " feetings," and littered with 

 wool, signs of recent fights or amatory struggles. 



As they " go " for twenty-eight days, like a rabbit, you 

 may find the young in April, and indeed they litter every 

 six weeks throughout the year in greater or lesser numbers. 

 But April is the month when most young leverets are 

 dropped upon the new-lays, in ploughed fields, or on the 

 marshes — in short, everywhere and anywhere. They gene- 

 rally cast two or three at a time, but four have been cast at 

 once. When the doe casts her young (who cannot see for 

 nine days ?), she leaves them at once, sometimes returning 

 to suckle the open-eyed (?), sluggish creatures for three 

 weeks, when she leaves them to their own resources. Some- 

 times she deserts them as soon as they are born, when they 

 die. Perhaps such an one is more anxious to begin breed- 

 ing again than most of her tribe, for they all begin again a 

 fortnight after they have cast their young. The sluggish 

 young do not wander far from their birthplace until they 

 grow to three-quarters their full size, trusting to their sight 

 to dodge an enemy, and to their colour, which protects them 

 in a marvellous manner. They are difficult to see even 

 when pointed out — that is, until you get accustomed to such 

 sights. Should you find young leverets, and wish to see 

 the mother, put the back of your hand to your opened lips, 

 and make a sucking noise (such as you can decoy rabbits 

 from their hole with), and you'll soon see the old doe come up' 

 amongst the rushes, staring at you curiously ; but do you 

 make that noise in winter, and they are "going." Some of 



