STUDIES IN HARE IIFE 23 



Messrs. Mann of Aigle Gill reared a tiny leveret, 

 which had been caught on their farm while still too 

 young to feed itself. It was nursed and tenderly cared 

 for. In the course of time it grew up and became 

 a favoured member of the household, the recipient of 

 many herbs and other delicate and toothsome tit-bits. 

 This creature was very quiet and retiring in its 

 habits during the hours of daylight ; but, with the 

 arrival of the gloaming, it threw aside its reserve, and 

 became as captivating a plaything as a man could 

 desire. My friends tell me that as long as they kept 

 this hare (a period of about two years) they could 

 generally foretell the weather of the following day, 

 from the actions of their favourite. The creature be- 

 came extremely lively and restless before a change 

 of weather, and was evidently highly susceptible to 

 atmospheric conditions. If she was unusually frolic- 

 some and uneasy, the weather was sure to undergo 

 a marked change. I am not aware that this fact had 

 been recorded previously to the present notification 

 of its existence. In the summertime this doe hare 

 — for it proved to be a doe — was kept in a little 

 hutch placed just outside the house. My friends 

 used to lean out of their windows in the deep stillness 

 of night, to listen to their captive caUing softly to 

 the free jack hare which came to visit her, but always 



