PAGES OF HARE LORE 39 



further river bank, without stopping to shake its 

 dripping coat. The creature while swimming pre- 

 sented a somewhat strange and unwonted appear- 

 ance, its head seeming to be large out of all propor- 

 tion to the size of the body. This illusion was due 

 of course to the fact of the head being kept above 

 water, and therefore dry, while the rest of the body 

 was submerged. 



In December 1888 a brown hare was seen one 

 day to cross the marsh at Dumbarton in the direction 

 of the river Leven. She arrived upon the embank- 

 ment at the moment when a man also reached the 

 embankment. Unwilling to retrace her steps across 

 the marsh, the hare boldly took to the water and began 

 to cross. Unluckily when she reached the distant 

 bank, she found her escape cut off by another enemy. 

 Apprehending the danger, she turned and made again 

 for the point she had recently left, and succeeded in 

 accomplishing the swim home, but only to fall into 

 the hands of her first enemy. ^ 



Mr. J. Beaumont witnessed an interesting instance 

 of a hare taking to the sea, when pressed by grey- 

 hounds. 'In October 1887,' he says, 'I was a 

 member of a shooting party, staying near Auchen- 

 cairn on the Kirkcudbrightshire coast, where for 

 ' Nature^ vol. xxxviii. p. 209. 



