6 Paths of Hares. ' 



always appear placid even in their restlessness, and 

 do not jostle their neighbors. 



See the hawk, after going nearly out of sight, 

 has swept round, and passes again at no great dis- 

 tance : this is a common habit of his kind, to beat 

 round in wide circles. As the breeze strikes him 

 aslant his course he seems to fly for a short time 

 partly on one side, like a skater sliding on the outer 

 edge. 



There is a rough grass growing within the enclos- 

 ure of the earthwork and here and there upon the 

 hills, which the sheep will not eat, so that it remains 

 in matted masses. In this the hares make their 

 forms ; and they must, somehow, have a trick of 

 creeping into their places, since many of the grass- 

 blades often arch over, and if they sprang into the 

 form heedlessly this could not be the case, as their 

 size and weight would crush it down. When startled 

 by a passer-by the hare unless there is a dog 

 goes off in a leisurely fashion, doubtless feeling quite 

 safe in the length of his legs, and after getting a hun- 

 dred yards or so sits upon his haunches and watches 

 the intruder. Their ' runs ' or paths are rather broader 

 than a rabbit's, and straighter the rabbit does not 

 ramble so far from home ; he has his paths across the 

 meadow to the hedge on the other side, but no farther. 

 The hare's track may be traced for a great distance 

 crossing the hills ; but while the roads are longer they 

 are much fewer in number. The rabbit makes a per- 

 fect network of ' runs,' and seems always to feed from 

 a regular path ; the hare apparently feeds anywhere, 

 without much reference to the ' runs,' which he uses 

 simply to get from one place to another in the racst 



