332 LEPORID^— LEPUS 



Thompson was corroborated by T. E. Davies, who wrote {Field, nth 

 July 1874, 31), from Buncrana, Co. Donegal, that in Cos. Derry and 

 Donegal the hares often turn white, except a few hairs on the head and 

 tips of the ears ; by Edward Ker, who spoke for the Mourne Mountains, 

 Co. Down {Journ. cit., 18th July 1874, 81) ; and by Lord Clermont. The 

 latter reported {Zoologist, 1882, 107) a very decided annual change of 

 colour from the summer to the winter garb in the hares at Raven sdale 

 Park, on the borders of Cos. Armagh and Louth, and that the white 

 prevailed more in hard than in mild winters. Warrand also pointed 

 out {Journ. cit., 1895, 104) that at Finnebrogue, near Downpatrick, 

 Co. Down, while nearly all assume a much lighter shade of fur when 

 the cold weather sets in, a considerable number turn very white ; but 

 Maxwell, the owner of the property, informs me that extreme stages 

 of whitening are rarely reached. To these records may be added Cos. 

 Galway, Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, and Monaghan, the latter on 

 the authority of my correspondent James Brodie. In Wexford some in- 

 dividuals turn remarkably white almost every year even at sea-level on 

 the rich pastures of Kilmanock. From Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford 

 (see also Smith, quoted above on p. 331), I have seen one of the whitest 

 Irish Hares known to me ; one from Co. Wicklow, and another (a very 

 white doe) from Ballybrophy, Queen's Co., are in the Dublin Museum. 

 From Galway there are many records ; for instance, Whyte reported 

 that of five hundred and eighty-two hares killed in two days, ten were 

 white or nearly so {Field, 12th February 1876, 158); he thought the 

 animals turned whiter on grass than on heather {Journ. cit., 25th July 

 1874, 87); in the Kylemore townland the late G. H. Kinahan {Land 

 and Water) shot during one winter at least twenty piebald hares, 

 some nearly white ; and one " perfectly white " was seen near the top 

 of Derryclare, one of the Twelve Pins (Caton Haigh, Zoologist, 1895, 

 185-186). Others in similar condition have been observed near Bruff, 

 Co. Limerick. Lastly, Harting {Zoologist, 1895, 104 and 149; also 

 Field, 29th August 1891, 331-332) has examined a number of Irish 

 Hares in all stages from brown to white. 



As stated above, winter whitening in the Irish Hare is very 

 irregular in its action. It is evident that few individuals whiten by 

 habit, and that the amount of stimulus required to cause whitening is 

 in each case very variable. Thus, on a given area occupied by a 

 number of hares a few will turn very white, a number conspicuously 

 although only partially white, while others will have only whitened a 

 little. Apart from individual constitutions, the degree may depend on 

 the locality or ground, since Whyte {op. cit. supra) wrote that in his 

 district all the white hares were killed on the lower ranges of green 

 limestone, and he never remembered to have seen a white one on the 

 heathery hills. In Connemara Kinahan found the hares whitening more 



