40 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HARE 



miles the waves of the Solway beat on red sandstone 

 cliffs, broken here and there by small bays, where the 

 burns run down to the sea through little glens. One 

 day I had left the others, and was standing among the 

 seaweed-covered boulders of such a bay, when the 

 sounds of a course reached me from a hillside a 

 quarter of a mile or more away, and presently I saw 

 the hare and greyhounds coming down to the shore ; 

 they ran close past where I was standing, and then, to 

 my astonishment, the hare deliberately entered the 

 water and swam out to sea. I could not persuade 

 the greyhounds. to follow, though one was so close 

 that, if she had done so at once, she could have 

 caught the hare without swimming, as the latter was 

 out of her depth directly, and swam very slowly. The 

 sun was shining very bright on the water, and it soon 

 became very difficult to keep the hare in sight, as her 

 head only showed now and then on the top of a wave, 

 and about a hundred yards from the shore I saw her 

 for the last time, though I stayed about the place 

 a long time. This hare was perhaps hard pressed ; 

 still I could see no reason why she should not have 

 run along the shore to the marsh dyke, which was 

 close to, and where she would probably have made 

 good her escape.' ^ 



' Nature, vol. xxxix. p. 270. 



