650 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



The Hare can dart at speed between saplings that are but three 

 inches apart, it can double around a bush or under a fallen tree 

 in a way that mocks at the Fox, Lynx, hawk, or owl; but it 

 often falls before them when they steal on it sleeping, or when 

 two of its foes unite and so form the drive and ambush. 



These combinations are not always pre-arranged. A 

 Fox seeing another Fox or a Lynx creep into the Hare cover 

 may lie in wait on some runway without the knowledge of the 

 hunter before him. Even a hawk or owl, I am told, will 

 circle round a Hare home while a Fox is ransacking its depths, 

 knowing that in the general stampede there is an excellent 

 chance of good things coming his way. 



The Hare has one enemy that, though much slower than 

 itself, is yet a terror, maybe the worst of them all, and that is 

 the Brown or Ermine Weasel. 



I have many times seen the trail of the pair in the snow 

 showing where the Weasel, with indefatigability that more 

 than made up for its lower speed, was bounding along the 

 track of some Hare. I have many times hear.d of the finish of 

 that hunt, but have never seen the actual death. 



During the December of 1886 I saw a chase that had a very 

 unexpected end. I was out with a friend hunting in the sand- 

 hills north-east of Carberry. The Snowshoe-rabbits were very 

 abundant in the thicker woods, and there were some in an 

 open grove where we halted to feed our horses. While there 

 I saw one running about at full speed, and after it what at 

 first I took for a smaller Rabbit in hot pursuit. As it circled 

 in full flight around our sleigh a number of times, I learned the 

 cause of its haste. The smaller one behind was not a Rabbit at 

 all, but a White Weasel, plunging along with tremendous energy 

 through the snow, and evidently running this Rabbit down. 

 The Weasel was winning. He was within a few yards of his 

 victim, when at last, the Rabbit, in desperation took refuge 

 near my feet, under the sleigh, and the Weasel, deciding to be 

 discreet, ran off before I could lay hands on a gun. There is 

 not the least doubt that the Rabbit feared me as an enemy, 



