The Hare 



Hares are not by any means welcome guests where the 

 Red Grouse breeds. The heather on the mountains Is 

 burned solely for the sustenance of the birds named, 

 but where Hares abound on such grounds they feed 

 voraciously on these young and tender shoots, and thus 

 rob the Red Grouse of their food. They are also liable 

 to upset the dogs employed upon such moors during 

 the shooting season. 



The Hare's " form " is a simple depression in the 

 soil, or it may be within a tuft of grass. Here the 

 animal rests throughout the day, shielding itself as best 

 it can from the wind and rain. As evening draws 

 its curtain over the landscape the Hare leaves its bed 

 and goes out to the fields to dine on cereal or root- 

 crop. A single Hare can do an immense amount 

 of damage when located upon arable land. Just as the 

 turnip blade is breaking the soil the animal nibbles the 

 tender shoot and kills the budding germ. Amongst 

 sprouting grain or clover the animal will practically 

 retard the growth of such for many square yards before 

 it returns to its " form " in the dawn. Even in the 

 dead of the year, the Hare sets its teeth into the skin 

 of the turnip, and leaves the frost and thaw to complete 

 the destruction. 



About the third month in the calendar of the year 

 the Brown Hare seeks a mate. It is then the animals 

 may be seen chasing each other wildly, leaping, skipping, 

 and gambolling in the grasslands, from which the 

 expression '* mad as a March hare " has been coined. 



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