Varying Hare 



face of the snow in order to get at the twigs and buds that 

 grow beyond their reach. But it never seems to occur to them 

 to carry any of it away to the cover of the evergreens where 

 they sleep, and in consequence they are obliged to be abroad in 

 all kinds of weather or go hungry until the storm is over. 



They usually pass the day crouching motionless, half asleep 

 in the shadow, though not averse to sunning themselves at mid- 

 day, especially during the latter part of the winter. 



Toward sunset they start out in search of food and are back 

 in their forms again soon after sunrise, but whether they spend 

 the entire night in feeding or only the hours of twilight is 

 not easy to determine; I am inclined to think that they are abroad 

 more or less at all hours of the night, especially when there is 

 moonlight or in the winter when it seldom gets very dark, and 

 as they appear to depend at all times much more upon their 

 other senses than upon their eyesight they would hardly be in- 

 commoded by the most intense darkness, and it is hard to imagine 

 anything much blacker than the darkness beneath the hemlocks 

 on a summer evening, even while it is still twilight in the open 

 fields. 



In spite of its size and the great strength of its hind legs 

 which it uses so vigorously as a final defence, kicking and strik- 

 ing savagely when seized, the Northern hare seems to be preyed 

 upon by all but the very smallest flesh-eating inhabitants of the 

 woods; in the North the sable is said to be one of its worst 

 enemies, and it is not at all unlikely that the mink in some of 

 his upland hunts manages now and again to seize one either by 

 stratagem or speed; for in spite of their short legs most of the 

 weasel tribe, of which the mink is a member, are able to beat 

 the hares at their own game, and although the latter have a 

 decided advantage at the start and quickly outdistance their 

 pursuers, the tireless muscles of the long-bodied hunters are pretty 

 sure to enable them to have their own way in the end. 



Even the ermine and little weasel have been known to kill 

 full-grown hares, and though these cases are probably not very 

 frequent, they must find the young and half-grown ones the easiest 

 kind of victims. 



Foxes are perhaps their most dangerous and persistent enemies, 

 and from what I have seen I am inclined to think that our Ameri- 

 can foxes work in concert when hunting them just as the English 



