HARE 329 



exhausted, and give up and are drowned. They never seem 

 to think of turning back, though one would imagine creatures 

 so fond of the water as they would be more at home under 

 the circumstances; for you may find them sitting in the 

 water summer and winter, and often on the marshlands 

 they plunge straight into the nearest dike if you surprise 

 them. Also, they take to the sea if pressed, as also to the 

 broads and rivers when the harriers are close upon them. 

 Old gunners have told me a dog is sometimes drowned in 

 the ice in the same manner as the hare, a bitch never — but 

 I know nothing of it. 



A favourite resort for hares in hard winters is the reed-bed. 

 In the hardest weather, they draw up to the garden, and 

 eat the brussel-sprouts. I know one cottager who killed 

 nine in one winter in this way — three of them at one shot. 

 They came across the ice (which was sixteen inches thick) 

 to his garden, and he was avenged. 



For coursing, the marshes are "the place ; " for when the 

 hare gets to cover, he is safe. When hunted, they run in 

 circles, coming up in the field whence they started should 

 they not be wooled ; but if the hounds wool them, they'll 

 run straight away — bolt wildly away. Nor are they sure to 

 take to the " wall " again, as they are when disturbed on a 

 marsh, as the knowing gunner knows well. 



