322 LEPORID.E— LEPUS 



when they are in their forms, thus completely concealing the 

 white parts of their bodies. So far from the white under side 

 being obliterative, it is, if anything, an advertising factor, and 

 shows up the animal from afar, as when one sits up on its 

 haunches to "wash" its face. 



The tameness of the Blue Hare, especially in the sexual 

 season, renders it a constant source of annoyance to grouse- 

 shooters by tempting their dogs to leave their legitimate 

 business ; in deer-forests it also meets with disfavour, as it 

 alarms the deer, but here its numbers are thinned by eagles, 

 foxes, and other carnivorous creatures, 1 which, by the modern 

 policy of the sportsman, are encouraged on these preserves. 



Unlike the Brown Hare this species will occasionally go to 

 ground, and habitually hides in clefts of rocks or amongst large 

 stones ; 2 without, however, constructing permanent burrows 

 or associating in warrens like the Rabbit. But that it may 

 occasionally excavate temporary retreats for itself, was shown 

 by Mr William Evans, 3 who, in the hills of South Inverness- 

 shire, inspected several short holes varying from two to five 

 feet in length and some six or seven inches in diameter. 

 These were stated to be the work of Blue Hares, and in one 

 case at least there was enough fur adhering to the sides to 

 prove the truth of the assertion ; they were supposed to have 

 been constructed in the first instance for the reception of the 

 young ; to the adults they could only be a temporary shelter, 

 perhaps a sufficient protection against attacks by birds of prey, 

 but of little value against carnivorous mammals. In the 

 Moorfoot Hills also, where rocks are absent, Mr Evans is 

 informed that the hares often burrow into the exposed faces 

 of peat. 



As winter approaches in cold districts the Blue Hare 

 often leaves its summer haunts and descends in search of a 

 more genial climate. In the same way, it resorts to the 



1 A point of great interest, the inter-relations of rodents and carnivores, as 

 exemplified particularly in North America by the Snowshoe Rabbit and the Lynx, 

 which depends on it for food, is discussed by Ernest Thompson Seton in The Arctic 

 Prairies, 19 12, 95, etc. , 



2 A habit retained by the naturalised Blue Hares in England ; see Coward, 

 Zoologist, 1 90 1, 75. 



3 Ann. Scott. Nat. Hist., 1892, 267. He has also seen a similar burrow in a peaty 

 bank in central Perthshire {MS.). 



