48 COWPER'S THREE TAME HARES 



the strictest scrutiny. They seem too to be very 

 much directed by the smell in the choice of their 

 favourites : to some persons, though they saw them 120 

 daily, they could never be reconciled, and would even 

 scream when they attempted to touch them; but a 

 miller coming in engaged their affections at once ; his 

 powdered coat had charms that were irresistible. It 

 is no wonder that my intimate acquaintance with 

 these specimens of the kind has taught me to hold 

 the sportsman's amusement in abhorrence. He little 

 knows what amiable creatures he persecutes, of what 

 gratitude they are capable, how cheerful they are in 

 their spirits, what enjoyment they have of life, and iso 

 that, impressed as they seem with a peculiar dread of 

 man, it is only because man gives them peculiar cause 

 for it. 



That I may not be tedious I will just give a short 

 summary of those articles of diet that suit them best. 

 Their I take it to be a general opinion that they graze, but 

 ' it is an erroneous one at least grass is not their 

 staple ; they seem rather to use it medicinally, soon 

 quitting it for leaves of almost any kind. Sow-thistle, 

 dent-de-lion, and lettuce are their favourite vegetables, i w 

 especially the last. I discovered by accident that fine 

 white sand is in great estimation with them I suppose 

 as a digestive. It happened that I was cleaning 

 a bird-cage when the hares were with me ; I placed 

 a pot filled with such sand upon the floor, which being 

 at once directed to by a strong instinct, they devoured 

 voraciously; since that time I have generally taken 

 care to see them well supplied with it. They account 

 green corn a delicacy, both blade and stalk, but the 

 ear they seldom eat ; straw of any kind, especially io 



