1 64 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



of this species have occasionally been killed in various 

 parts of the country, as have others with patches of 

 white on face, legs, or body. Hares more or less black 

 in colour have also been met with at rare intervals. 



Many shooting men are considerably interested in the 

 weighing of the game they shoot. Some few years ago, 

 in writing to The Field, I had occasion to mention the 

 weight of some exceptionally heavy hares. This evoked 

 many replies from widely situate parts of the country. 

 One sportsman, writing from far-away Falmouth, stated 

 that in the whole course of a lengthy career, he had 

 never come across a lo-lb. hare. From Suffolk another 

 sportsman was good enough to send particulars of the 

 weighing of between fifty and sixty hares shot on the 

 previous day. From his remarks I gathered that 9-lb. 

 hares were not by any means infrequent on the heavy 

 land in that particular locality, also that lO-lb. hares 

 were rare. The largest of this batch weighed 9^ lb., 

 eighteen more weighed between 8 lb. and 9 lb. each ; 

 twenty-six weighed from 7 lb. to 8 lb. each, whilst 

 twelve only scaled 6 lb. to 7 lb. This weighing took 

 place after a dry season, and these hares were stated to 

 be an unusually good sample, two-thirds of the number 

 being well over the average weight for that quarter. 

 On the other hand, Mr. R. Langford Wilson at that 

 time stated that in the island of Tiree he had shot a 

 number of hares, many of which turned the scale at 

 ii lb. 



Taking the country through, I think that the average 

 weight of brown hares may be put down at from 7 lb. 

 to 8 lb. A 9~lb. hare may be looked upon as unusually 

 fine, and whilst hares weighing 10 lb. to n lb. are rarely 

 killed, even this weight does not constitute the record 



