MOUNTAIN HARE 83 



me that they increased very rapidly in that district, and 

 that when living at Muirkirk, about twenty-five years 

 ago, he found them quite plentiful. A few were also 

 turned down by Mr Cowan about twenty-four or twenty- 

 five years ago on the Silverburn hills, the highest of the 

 Pentlands. From these three, and probably other points of 

 introduction, the species has now spread over the greater 

 part of the southern hill-country, where I have myself 

 frequently observed them at various times of the year. 

 In Peeblesshire I have recently come across them on the 

 hills above Glen Sax and at the head of Manor; while 

 in Selkirkshire I met with a few on Ettrick Pen and 

 the hills above Tushielaw in June 1889. On the Pent- 

 lands they are well known as far east as the Cairn hills 

 on the one hand, and Scaldlaw on the other ; and Mr 

 Cowan's keeper tells me they are still spreading. There 

 are now a few on the north Black-hill, and on the south 

 side of the range he saw one on Capelaw during the 

 winter of 1889-90 ; another came under my own observa- 

 tion recently on a spur of Carnethy. On 1st January 

 1889, I made an excursion to the tops of Craigengar and 

 the West Cairn-hill for the express purpose of seeing 

 these Hares in their white coats, and was rewarded by 

 the sight of several. Mr P. Adair, who has shot many 

 of them on the latter hill during the last nine or ten 

 years, informs me he has there seen a hybrid between 

 this and the Common Hare, and in January 1891 I examined 

 an undoubted example from near Cardrona in Peebles- 

 shire. 



