334 LEPORID^E. 



the Mainland of Orkney in 1832, and has become very 

 numerous there and in Hoy ; it is also found in the Inner 

 Hebrides and in the Isle of Wight. 



The Hare is an evening feeder ; having made its form it 

 remains in it during the day, leaving it only towards 

 nightfall, and constantly returning to it, after the most 

 extensive travels ; hence it is proverbially said that the 

 wounded Hare returns home to die. It changes its situa- 

 tion, however, according to the season, selecting in the 

 summer a shady spot, and in the winter an aspect where 

 it may receive the benefit of the sun's rays. Hares are 

 usually to be found in cover during rain, and in the open 

 in fine weather ; on some days they must be sought for 

 among long grass and herbage, on others on almost naked 

 fallows and ploughed fields. Sometimes they remain in 

 their forms till one almost tramps on them, whilst at other 

 times, especially in bad weather, they take to flight long 

 before the sportsman gets within gunshot; they are 

 usually much wilder in the afternoon than in the morn- 

 ing. The Hare swims well and takes to the water readily 

 not merely when pursued, but to obtain a more plen- 

 tiful supply of food, and the male will often cross a river 

 in search of a mate ; an account of a Hare swimming 

 across an arm of the sea about a mile in breadth was 

 given by the late Mr. Yarrell in the fifth volume of 

 f ( Loudon's Magazine." On hearing an unusual sound 

 the first impulse of a Hare is to sit upright with erected 

 ears to reconnoitre ; then it either endeavours to conceal 

 itself by " clapping " close to the ground, or at once 

 takes to flight. It is a cunning animal, and the sharp 

 turns or " wrenches " by which it strives to baffle the 

 fleeter but less agile greyhound constitutes one of the 

 principal beauties of the sport of coursing. Owing to 

 the length of its hind legs the Hare is much fleeter up 



