HARES. 93 



**' creep,'' the hare drumming at them with its fore feet. I have 

 often seen a happy family composed of several spaniels round the 

 cage, two cats sitting on the top, several white fantail pigeons, 

 and, not infrequently, some pied wagtails fearlessly running 

 about on the grass within a few yards. 



We are accustomed to regard a hare as one of the most 

 timid of all animals, and in a state of nature this is the case. 

 When, however, they are kept in confinement, and have been 

 tamed, they not only lose their shyness to a very great extent, 

 but are at times capable of exhibiting an amount of ferocity 

 hardly credible ; and instances have been recorded of their having 

 completely beaten off a dog. A relation of mine was well 

 acquainted with a lady in one of our northern towns who kept 

 two hares, which she had succeeded in taming, and which were 

 very much attached to her. On her return home, after a 



prolonged absence of some three or four months, and visiting 

 her pets, they had, apparently, not only lost their affection for 

 her, but attacked her in so savage and determined a manner that 

 she was forced to beat a retreat. I have every reason to believe 

 in the absolute truth of this statement. Unlike rabbits hares 

 prefer solitude. It is an almost unknown thing to put up two 

 hares which have *' seated " together. Even the young ones, as 

 soon as they are weaned, appear to separate themselves, and will 

 lie couched some fifty or sixty yards away from the doe. In 

 hilly countries hares prefer to lie as near to the top of a hill as 

 the weather permits of their doing. The reason for this is 

 probably because the length of their hind legs enables them to 

 tread uphill better than down. When, however, they are forced 

 to take downhill, feeling their inability to descend in a straight 

 line, they invariably travel in an oblique direction. If pressed 

 hard down a very steep incline, they are apt, at times, to turn 

 head over heels. 



