366 Sporting Sketches 



tendant picturesque and pleasant possibilities. To- 

 day, the outdoor woman is queen, and of a surety 

 hawking would give Diana a grand opportunity to 

 spread her conquests further. 



The best of our hares is the well-known fellow of 

 the East and North, the northern hare (L. ameri- 

 canus), the so-called " white rabbit." He is good 

 game in his proper season, and he possesses the 

 great advantage over the " jack " (possibly not from 

 his point of view !) of being also good eating. Child 

 of the snow that he is, he makes his home in the 

 wilds, fearing neither piling drift nor biting blast. 

 He loves the unbroken forest, the snarls of tangled 

 thicket, the twisted wreckage of the tornado's path, 

 the dusk swamps, soundless beneath lonely hills. 

 This hare, like the beautiful ptarmigan, furnishes an 

 interesting example of Nature's loving provision for 

 the welfare and safety of her feebler children of the 

 North. In summer the ptarmigan wears a mottled 

 coat which admirably blends with the prevailing 

 tints of the lichened rocks of its home. Upon the 

 approach of winter the bird's plumage gradually 

 turns white, while a growth of hair-like feathers upon 

 the legs and feet thickens until it forms the snow- 

 shoe foot the best possible thing to support the 

 bird upon snow and to protect the feet from frost. 

 The hare, lacking wings, requires better protection, 

 and Nature attends to it. During summer, the pre- 

 vailing color of the coat is a grayish brown, the 

 most inconspicuous of tints among roots, rocks, 

 shrubs, and the various surroundings of the breeding 

 season. The hare's special gifts, without which he 

 would speedily succumb to various foes, including 



