THE HARE. 783 



nostrils frequently when sleeping, and often whilst awake. 

 She then also winks her eyelids ; and yet the hare, when 

 running, from various incidents that have occurred, seems to 

 use her sight (^^^hich, from the form and situation of the eye, 

 is admirably calculated to espy impending danger from every 

 quarter) imperfectly forwards, and to direct it chiefly towards 

 her pursuers, so much so as to endanger her safety. As an 

 instance : in Sandpit wood, in the parish of Terling, in Essex, 

 a pack of fox-hounds had just unkennelled, and the hares, of 

 which, as well as of foxes, there were plenty in the cover, 

 were many of them disturbed. In one of the paths a hare 

 met and ran against a terrier, who was hastening to the cry, 

 with such velocity, that both animals were apparently killed ; 

 the dog with some difficulty was recovered, but the hare's 

 skull was fractured to pieces. 



Dogs and foxes pursue the hare by instinct. Wild-cats, 

 weasels, foumarts, and martins, catch and destroy it. Eagles, 

 and other birds of prey, pomiv e upon it in its form, and man 

 makes it an animal of the chase. 



'^ Poor is the triumph o'er the timid hare ! 

 Yet vain her best precaution, though she sits 

 Conc^al'd, with folded ears, unsleeping eyes, 

 By Nature raised to take th' horizon in, 

 And head conceal'd betwixt her hairy feet. 

 In act to spring away. The scented dew 

 Betrays her early labyrinth ; and deep 

 In scatter'd sullen openings, far behind, 

 With every breeze, she hears the coming storm. 

 But nearer and move frequent, as it loads 

 The sighing gale, she springs amazed, and all 

 The savage soul of game is up at once." 



The hare possesses the sense of smelling in a degree of 

 high perfection ; though the poacher takes his stand with 

 every caution, and let the hare approach with all boldness 



