420 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS 



LETTEE XXVI 



GEOUND GAME SHOOTING (PAET III) 

 < HARES ' 



I LOOK upon a hare as incapable of affording any 

 sport to a shooter, and I do not take the slightest 

 interest in preserving this animal merely for the gun ; 

 though as a means of bestowing a welcome present, 

 or as a table delicacy, a hare is without doubt a 

 valuable animal. For the above reasons I should 

 regret extremely to see hares exterminated, though I 

 fear there is every prospect of this being the case 

 unless some useful legislation is very shortly directed 

 towards their protection. 



A hare is a miserably timid, hesitating creature, 

 and has not a particle of the dash and pluck of a 

 rabbit. There is very little satisfaction in rolling a 

 hare over as it canters past }^ou ; and to hear the 

 piteous cry of a wounded one is enough to sicken any 

 sportsman, with his heart in the right place, for an 

 entire day. 



Still, if hares exist, as I hope they long will, as 



