30 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HARE 



to be forfeited to the King, if in the sessions ; and to 

 the lord of the leet, if in the leet.' But the popularity 

 of the amusement seems in time to have rendered 

 the statute a dead letter. James I. adopted more 

 stringent measures, ordering that an offender should 

 be committed to the common gaol for six months, 

 unless he paid the churchwardens for the use of the 

 poor 20^-. for every hare which he had traced and 

 killed in the snow. 



Dr. Shufeldt, the American ornithologist, made 

 some valuable observations upon the leaping powers 

 of hares in New Mexico. ' While rambling,' he says, 

 ' in the wintertime over the snow-covered plains in 

 this region, I have recently interested myself in 

 ascertaining how far, on a level surface, a hare or 

 rabbit may leap at each spring, at a time when either 

 of these animals is put to its best speed. Two species 

 of Lepus are quite abundant in this vicinity, viz. the 

 Mexican hare (Z. callotis caUotis), and the sage hare, 

 which is really a medium-sized rabbit ( Z. sylvaticus 

 Nuttall)^ while the first mentioned is a big hare. It 

 is not uncommon to find here, in certain localities, a 

 stretch of perfectly level prairie, extending for a dis- 

 tance of three or four miles, and when this is covered 

 by an even layer of one inch or more of snow, it offers 

 an admirable surface on which to take account of the 



