143 



Up to then the wild hare had only survived from 

 pursuit by men and dogs by the exercise of all her 

 cunning. Vv^ith the protection from her natural enemies 

 she soon became a semi-tame animal, wandering about 

 the fields in droves, naked and unashamed before the 

 eye of man. Generations of inherited instincts were 

 thus temporarily obscured, and the wild character of 

 the animal lost. 



The desire of indifferent shots to massacre wholesale 

 and to see the results of their prowess recorded in the 

 Press, may have led to the excessive preservation of 

 the hare. It is difficult to understand the mentahty 

 of men with the abihty to hit a haystack, finding any 

 sport in shooting at such an easy target ; and still 

 more strange, they should care to go on continuing the 

 slaughter. The Hares and Rabbits Bill, however, 

 put that sport out of fashion, except in specially favoured 

 districts, so that the hare had once more to fall back on 

 her natural cunning to avoid extinction, and the sur- 

 vivors regained the wild attributes of distant forbears. 



In countries where preservation was a.lmost unknown, 

 the hare not having been pampered or allowed un- 

 natural ease, retained all those inherited quaUties which 

 enabled her ancestors in bye-gone days to defeat the 

 craft of hounds and huntsman. 



The fox has many and various tricks up his sleeve, 

 but they are nothing compared to the numerous artifices 

 of the hare. Truly she is a beast of the chase it is a 

 pleasure to hunt, and unless out-paced at the start by 

 too big hoimds, may always be depended upon to put 

 up a good fight. 



There is a widespread idea that the hare is a very 

 timorous animal, whereas she is really very bold, and 

 except when weak, or wounded, is well able to take 



