784 MANUAL or MODERN FARRIERY. 



towards the spot, the instant she winds him, another track 

 is immediately taken. Her near approach to the colour of 

 the ground hides the hare from the sight of its enemies- 

 man, birds, and beasts of prey. In northern countries. Pro 

 vidence, careful to preserve every species of animal, causes 

 the fur of the hare, as well as of many others, to become 

 white in winter, which renders them less conspicuous in 

 snow. 



It is not generally known that the Irish, English, and 

 Scotch mountain hare, are of different species, and are easily 

 recognisable from each other. They also vary considerably 

 in point of size. The smallest of the British hares are those 

 of the Island of Hay, and the largest are found in the Isle of 

 Man, some of which have weighed twelve pounds. They are 

 sometimes met with in England from ten to eleven ; but the 

 general weight is from seven to eight pounds and a half. 



The hare does not pair, but pursues the female by its 

 sense of smelling ; they breed during the whole year, except 

 about two months or ten weeks in the depth of winter. The 

 female goes with young one month, usually has two, some- 

 times three, and very rarely four ; but in the spring of 1799, 

 in the orchard of W. Cole, of Hellens, Bumpstead, in Essex, 

 seven young hares were found in one form ; each was marked 

 with a star of white on its forehead. It is a prevailing opi- 

 nion, that this mark always exists when the young exceed 

 two in number. The mother suckles the young about twenty 

 days, after which they separate and procure their own food, 

 making a form or seat sixty or eighty paces from each other ; 

 so that when we meet with one young hare we are almost 

 certain of finding more within a small distance. To prove the 

 fecundity of the hare, a brace of hares (the doe pregnant when 

 shut up) were inclosed in a large walled garden, and proper 

 plants supplied for their sustenance. At the expiration of 



