224 Lloyd's natural history. 



has been observed to cross rivers by swimming, and even to 

 enter the sea for the purpose of gaining an island or point of 

 land, on which food was more abundant. We may add, that, 

 as a rule. Hares do not take to water except when compelled 

 to do so to escape from pursuit. 



Mr. Trevor-Battye states, however, that as he was once wait- 

 ing at evening for ducks by the side of the River Eden, in 

 Kent, a Hare came quietly down the opposite bank through a 

 copse, crossed about three feet of ice that fringed the stream, 

 swam the open water, scrambled on to the ice on his side, and 

 emerged close to him, shook itself, and, catching sight of him, 

 ran off. This seemed quite a spontaneous act, as it was not 

 being hunted. 



The female goes with young thirty days, and more than once 

 in the season produces from three to five young ones, which 

 are born covered with hair, having their eyes open, and capable 

 of running. The young squat in the fields, remaining motion- 

 less, like those of many birds, and are with difficulty perceived. 

 Even the old Hares are not readily driven from their form, in 

 which they will sometimes remain until a person is quite close 

 to them, when they at length start off, exhibiting in their motions 

 the haste and perturbation of extreme fear. The timidity of 

 the Hare is, indeed, proverbial, as is its propensity to return 

 when wounded, or even when hunted, to its usual place of 

 repose. 



In the foregoing account Hares are stated to skulk and lie 

 close only when in their forms, but they will frequently do so 

 — more especially in the early spring — on open fallows, or even 

 on grass-land. From the similarity of their coloration to the 

 surrounding clods of earth, they are then extremely difficult to 

 detect, unless by a practised eye. When running away from a 

 pursuer, the white under surface of the up-turned tail renders 

 them, however, conspicuous in the extreme. The object of 



