144 



LEPORII>. : 



-MAMMALIA. LEPORID.E. 



THE COMMON TTATTR (Lepus timidus} Plate 16, 

 fig. 53 is familiar to every one in these islands, and 

 is to be met with throughout Europe, except in Norway 

 and Sweden. The general colour of the fur is tawny- 

 grey, inclining to brown on the back, and to a rusty tint 

 lower down ; underneath the belly and throat it is white, 

 as well as on the inferior surface of the tail, which, 

 however, is usually directed uppermost. The ears are 

 longer than the head, and more or less tipped with 

 black in different individuals. Respecting its habits, 

 they are almost too well known to need any lengthened 

 record. To the sportsman, hares afford the excitement 

 of the hunt, the amusement of the course, and the 

 pastime of the gun. Of all the various methods employed 

 in destroying these comparatively defenceless animals, 

 perhaps that of shooting them is the least cruel, and 

 therefore the most perfectly legitimate. The barbarities 

 of the slaughter-house, where cattle are daily sacrificed 

 for civilized man's consumption, are not one whit less 

 cruel than the ordinary method employed for destroy- 

 ing game by shooting ; and these animals, are "nothing 

 to be refused," if received with thankfulness. While 

 deprecating most sincerely any wanton cruelty in the 

 use of these gifts, we hold the ordinary methods of 

 destroying game to be quite consistent with mercy 

 and humanity ; and of one thing we are tolerably cer- 

 tain, that if man did not undertake to destroy these 

 defenceless creatures in the usually summary manner 

 that he does, their natural enemies would effect the 

 same result, in ways far less considerate. For example, 

 witness the case of the agonies of the poor hare (seen 

 by the Eev. F. W. Hope, and recorded at page 91) 

 with a weasel sticking to its throat! Witness again 

 the instances where they fall into the merciless clutches 

 of the fox, or even into the penetrating talons of the 

 hawk tribe ! Surely a charge of shot, or the sudden 

 gripe of a greyhound, renders the agonies of death less 

 prolonged and less painful than do the natural modes 

 of death above cited. And, if so, why display a false 

 and useless sentimentality in denouncing the conduct 

 of those who, with the gun, cut short the existence of 

 these creatures which are designed to form part of his 

 means of subsistence? Whilst writing these very 

 words, an important batch of game, including " puss," 

 arrives from a friend in the country ; and we respect- 

 fully beg to inform our readers that we shall allow no 

 qualms of conscience, on the score that these creatures 

 have fallen under the torture of powder and shot, to 

 destroy the satisfaction we hope to derive from their 

 consumption. This, at ah 1 events, is a practical view 

 of the question. The hare feeds exclusively on vege- 

 table substances, and causes terrible injury to young 

 plantations, fields of early wheat, and other cereal crops. 

 The habits of the hare are for the most part nocturnal. 

 During the day they rest in open fields and stubbles, 

 and especially in grassy situations. For partial conceal- 

 ment and comfort, they construct superficial hollows 

 in the soil. These excavations are technically termed 

 " forms," and they are more or less perfect, according 

 to the character of the situation chosen. Here they rest 

 in a cat-like crouching manner, with the chin and throat 

 resting on the front paws. Hares are good swimmers, 

 when occasion requires. Thus, in the fifth volume of 



London's Magazine, Mr. Yarrell has recorded the fol- 

 lowing interesting circumstance : " A harbour of great 

 extent on our southern coast has an island near the 

 middle of considerable size, the nearest point of which 

 is a mile distant from the mainland at high water, and 

 with which point there is frequent communication by a 

 ferry. Early one morning in spring, two hares were 

 observed to come down from the hills of the mainland 

 towards the sea-side, one of which from time to time 

 left its companion, and proceeding to the very edge of 

 the water, stopped there a minute or two and then 

 returned to its mate. The tide was rising, and, after 

 waiting some time, one of them, exactly at high water, 

 took to the sea, and swam rapidly over in a straight 

 line to the opposite projecting point of land. The 

 observer, on this occasion, who was near the spot, but 

 remained unperceived by the hares, had no doubt they 

 were of different sexes, and that it was the male that 

 swam across the water, as he had probably done many 

 times before. It was remarkable that the hares remained 

 on the shore near half an hour, one of them occasionally 

 examining, as it would seem, the state of the current, 

 and ultimately taking to the sea at that precise period 

 of the tide called slack- water, when the passage across 

 could be effected without being earned by the force of 

 the stream either above or below the desired point of 

 landing. The other hare then cantered back to the 

 hills." The female generally produces two young at 

 a litter, but frequently as many as three, four, and even 

 five ; the leverets having their sight at the time of birth, 

 and being able to shift for themselves at the expiration 

 of about a month. A full-grown hare weighs eight 

 or nine pounds, but an instance has been given of one 

 which weighed upwards of thirteen pounds. The flesh 

 is usually considered good eating, but in some speci- 

 mens we have found it decidedly coarse. In cold 

 climates the fur becomes lighter during the whiter 

 months. Black varieties also occur in this country ; 

 a fine specimen of this kind was shot a few years since 

 on the grounds of Sir Edward Kerrison, of Broom Hall, 

 in the county of Suffolk. 



THE ALPINE HARE (Lepus variabilis} is a native 

 of the mountainous districts of Northern and Southern 

 Europe. The Alpine hare is rather smaller than the 

 common form, and has a light, fulvous-brown fur, 

 which becomes white on the approach of winter. The 

 ears, however, which are shorter than the head, remain 

 black-coloured at the tips throughout the cold season. 

 The head itself is small, as is also the tail, when com- 

 pared with that of Lepus timidus; the posterior pair 

 of limbs being also shorter. 



THE IRISH HAKE (Lepus Hibernicus). From a 

 cal-eful examination of several specimens, Mr. Bell con- 

 siders this hare as specifically distinct from the above. 

 It differs from the common hare in the relative propor- 

 tion of the ears and head, which are much smaller; 

 whilst it is distinguished from the Alpine species by the 

 size and "form of the body, the tail, and the texture 

 and colour of the fur," the latter .exhibiting a uniform 

 rufous-brown tint. 



THE AMERICAN HAEE (Lepus Americanus) is 

 tolerably abundant throughout the more wooded parts 

 of the entire northern continent from which it derives 



