22 The Vertebrates of Solway. 



notes and facts of observation, that the Brown Rat now betakes 

 itself to the fields and opeu country, away from dwelling-places, 

 far more readily than was formerly the case. Along the shore 

 line, too, there are large and increasing numbers to be found 

 where at one time few, or none, were to be seen. On quiet 

 evenings one has only to remain in hiding for a few minutes to see 

 the Rats come out from under the rocks to feed upon mollusks 

 and the rejectamenta of the tide. 



The Common Hare {Lepus Europceus, Pallas.). 



In these days the Common Hare only manages to hold its 

 own on estates sufficiently large to allow of efficient protection. 

 How abundant the hares were before the passing of the Ground 

 Game Act is a matter of common knowledge. At the Dumfries 

 fur markets before alluded to hare skins were the staple com- 

 modity. Seldom less than 10,000 skins were sold, and in the later 

 years during which the market existed 65,000 to 70,000 were 

 sometimes disposed of. It is stated that so recently as 1874 no 

 fewer than 180,000 hare skins passed through the hands of the 

 Dumfries dealers. 



The Mountain Hare {Lepus timtdus, Linn.). 



The AVhite Hare now frequents all our hills of 1000 feet and 

 upwards, and very many of those of lower altitude, and a speci- 

 men has been shot so low down as the hill above Dalscairth. It 

 was unknown in Dumfriesshire previous to so comparatively recent 

 a date as the winter of 1863, when it was first noticed on the 

 Moffat, Evan Water, Leadhills, and other ranges leading into 

 Peebles and Selkirkshire. It was understood at the time that 

 these Hares were the produce of some that had been turned down 

 at Glenbuck by a Mr Hunter about 1861. But in a deeply 

 interesting work, entitled " The Mammalia of the Edinburgh 

 District," published in 1892, my friend Mr William Evans, the 

 author of the book cited, shews that there were at least two other 

 introductions to which, together with those set loose at Glenbuck, 

 we are indebted for the present stock of Mountain Hares which 

 are so widely and abundantly distributed over the southern 

 uplands. Mr Clason of Hallyards procured a number of Blue 

 Hares from the north, and set them free on the top of the highest 

 hills in the parish of Manor, in Peebleshire, in 1845 or 1846. 



