1366 



THE RODENTS 



nibbling away the bark is sometimes very great. In fine weather hares are usually 

 to be found in the open, while during rain they show a decided preference for cover; 

 but while on some days they select the bare fallows, on others they repair to fields 

 with long grass or other herbage. On some occasions, either, when lying in the 

 open or in their forms, they will almost allow themselves to be trodden upon before 

 stirring, and it is then that they are sometimes captured by the poacher merely 

 walking silently up and throwing himself suddenly upon them. On other occasions 

 they are so wild that it is difficult for the sportsman to come within range; Pro- 

 fessor T. Bell observing that they are generally most wild in bad weather, and more 



MOUNTAIN HARE. 



(One-fifth natural size). 



so in the afternoon than in the morning. The hare will take readily to the water, 

 not only to escape from pursuit, but likewise to obtain food or a mate; and there 

 is a record of one actually swimming across an arm of the sea about a mile in width. 

 The author last mentioned writes that ' ' on hearing an unusual sound the first im- 

 pulse of a hare is to sit upright with erected ears to reconnoitre; then it either en- 

 deavors to conceal itself by 'clapping' close to the ground, or at once takes to flight. 

 It is a cunning animal, and the sharp turns or ' wrenches ' by which it strives to 

 baffle the fleeter but less agile greyhound, constitute one of the principal beauties of 

 the sport of coursing. ' ' 



