NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HARE 



indeed that reaches eleven pounds. Enormous hares 

 have been killed in rare instances. 



By this I mean to say that individual hares have 

 undoubtedly scaled between thirteen and fourteen 

 pounds. But these were over-fed monsters, which 

 had glutted their carcases to repletion. Now the 

 Mediterranean hare only averages from five to six 

 pounds when full grown. It is, therefore, obviously 

 inferior in bulk to the typical animal. I have not 

 been able to obtain the weights of any Russian hares. 

 Those which are killed in Central Europe appear to 

 be about the same size as our own hares. Professor 

 Fatio, for instance, writes that in Switzerland the 

 brown hares average from eight to ten pounds apiece. 

 He has known of larger specimens. Some of them 

 weighed as much as twelve pounds, but these, of 

 course, were remarkable. The weight of the hare, 

 like that of almost any animal, depends a good deal 

 on the season of the year, and on the relative abun- 

 dance or paucity of food. It is generally held to be 

 in the finest condition in late autumn and early 

 winter. Nature has ordained that the hare should 

 become fat and well nourished in the fall of the year, 

 in order that it may be the better fitted to endure the 

 hardships and privations to which it is exposed in 

 the depth of winter. Nevertheless, some hares are in 



