PAGES OF HARE LORE 33 



much less if measured from a fore-foot mark to the 

 next hind-foot mark. This was also about the length 

 of the dog's leap. The alternate nature of the leaps 

 is interesting to notice, long and short leaps seeming 

 io follow each other in regular succession.' ^ 



The force with which a hare runs depends, I 

 fancy, a good deal upon whether it is out in the centre 

 of a field or is approaching a gateway. Unless pur- 

 sued, it reduces its pace as it approaches an exit from 

 the field. Mr. Miller Christy cites a curious collision 

 between two hares : — ' During a day's shooting on my 

 uncle's land at Boynton Hall, near Chelmsford, about 

 the middle of December, a hare came by its death in 

 a most extraordinary way. Two hares were put up 

 together from a field. Both ran back and tried to 

 pass the beaters, but, being shouted at, became ap- 

 parently confused, and ran straight at one another 

 without looking. The result was a collision, after 

 which one hare fell over, and its neck was found to 

 be broken. The occurrence was witnessed by my 

 uncle's keeper and several of the beaters, but I believe 

 none of the guns saw it. I have heard of a case in 

 which a coursed hare killed itself by running against 

 a clod of earth, but never before have I heard of such 

 an instance as the foregoing.' ^ A fact which I have 



' Zoologist^ 1 89 1, p. 60. "' Ibid. 1883, p. 75. 



D 



