HAKE. 357 



rens or blind holes ; the reason probably being that in 

 the one case the living inhabitants are free to vacate the 

 ofifensive locality, while in the other case they are not so. 

 Anyhow, there can be no reasonable doubt that the in- 

 stinct of removing their dead has arisen in rabbits from 

 the necessity of keeping their confined domiciles in a 

 pure state. 



Hare. 



The hare is a more intelligent animal than the rabbit. 

 Possibly its much greater powers of locomotion may be 

 one cause of its mental superiority to its nearest congener. 

 I have never myself observed a hare commit the mistake 

 already mentioned in the case of the rabbit, viz., that of 

 crouching for concealment upon an inappropriately coloured 

 surface. But the best idea of the comparatively high 

 intelligence of the hare will be gained by the following 

 quotations. The first of these is taken from Loudoun's 

 ' Magazine of Natural History ' (vol. iv., p. 143) : — 



It is especially conscious of the scent left by its feet, and of 

 the danger which threatens it in consequence; a reflection 

 which implies as much knowledge of the habits of its enemies 

 as of its own. When about to enter its seat for the purpose 

 of rest, it leaps in various directions, and crosses and recrosses 

 its path with repeated springs ; and at last, by a leap of greater 

 energy than it has yet used, it effects a lodgment in the selected 

 spot, which is chosen rather to disarm suspicion than to protect 

 it from injury. In the ' Manuel du Chasseur ' some instances 

 are quoted from an ancient volume on hunting by Jaques du 

 Fouillouse. A hare intending to mislead its pursuers has been 

 seen spontaneously to quit its seat and to proceed to a pond at the 

 distance of nearly a mile, and having washed itself, push off 

 again through a quantity of rushes. It has, too, been known, 

 when pursued to fatigue by dogs, to thrust another hare from 

 its seat and squat itself down in its place. This author has 

 seen hares swim successively through two or three ponds, of 

 which the smallest was eighty paces round. He has known it, 

 after a long chase, to creep under the door of a sheep-house and 

 rest among the cattle, and when the hounds were in pursuit, it 

 would get into the middle of a flock of sheep and accompany 

 them in all their motions round the field, refusing by any means 

 to quit the shelter they afforded. The stratagem of its passing 



