278 COMMON HARE. 



for the gratification of their destructive propensities 

 and love of excitement, are willing to indulge in a 

 pursuit as unmanly as it is cruel. 



It is chiefly to the lower and more cultivated dis- 

 tricts that the Common Hare resorts ; but it is also 

 found in the upland valleys, and on the slopes of 

 hills at a considerable height. Timid and gentle 

 as it is, it is by no means innocuous, for the injury 

 it occasions to the young corn is often considerable. 

 In winter it finds an abundant supply of food in the 

 turnip fields, and sometimes visits the gardens at 

 night, especially when urged by hunger during con- 

 tinued frost. It has been observed to cross rivers 

 by swimming, and even to enter the sea for the pur- 

 pose of gaining an island or point of land, on which 

 its food was more abundant. 



The female goes with young thirty days, and se- 

 veral times in the season produces from three to five 

 young ones, which are born covered with hair, hav- 

 ing their eyes open, and capable of running. The 

 young squat in the fields, remaining motionless, 

 like those of many of the Grallae, and are with diffi- 

 culty perceived. Even the old Hares are not readily 

 driven from their form, in which they will sometimes 

 remain until a person is quite close to them, when 

 they at length start off, exhibiting in their motions 

 the haste and perturbation of extreme fear. The 

 timidity of the Hare is indeed proverbial, as is its 

 propensity to return when wounded, or even when 

 hunted, to its usual place of repose. Besides being 

 pursued with hounds, and shot for pastime, it is 



