SPOKT OF BUTE. 15] 



up acquaintance with the bluecoats now putting 

 on their wintry livery and with the aid of ter- 

 riers and retrievers could any day load a pony and 

 his panniers with them. 



It is the belief of some naturalist authorities 

 that Alpine and Irish hares are of the same 

 species, and that any apparent difference is caused 

 by variation of climate. They maintain that, on 

 the colder mountains of Scotland, the Irish hare 

 would grow white in winter, while the Scotch 

 white hare would retain the summer blue on the 

 Irish plains during the severest December and 

 January snows. From close observation of both, 

 I entirely dissent from this theory. The Irish 

 hare is thinner in the fur, which has a dash of 

 red very different from the summer mouse-blue of 

 the Scotch hare; the body is more lightly made for 

 the limbs ; and having hunted them a whole season 

 on the plains of Boyle, I can vouch for it that no 

 Alpine hare would live before foxhounds half the 

 time these Irish ones constantly do. 



I have in my collection Alpine hares in sum- 

 mer and winter dress, together with an Irish one, 

 and the difference is apparent to the most careless 



