THE HARE AND ITS WAYS 41 



as they are to enemies in the open. The mother will 

 occasionally treat them as a cat deals with her kittens, 

 carrying them about in her mouth when danger 

 threatens and she has to search for more secure 

 quarters. It is usually stated, and with a certain 

 amount of truth, that the brown hare, reared among 

 hills and mountains, is stouter and gives better and 

 longer runs than the lowland-bred hare. This is 

 not an invariable rule. Hares bred on grass marsh, 

 well dyked and drained, and not, therefore, too wet, 

 are often extraordinarily stout. I have hunted for 

 some seasons with the Hailsham Harriers, a foot pack, 

 whose best hunting-grounds lie on Pevensey Marshes. 

 The marsh hares of this district are extraordinarily 

 stout and give wonderful runs, often exceeding an 

 hour and not seldom two hours in duration. These 

 are 19-inch harriers, and by no means to be accounted 

 a slow pack ; in fact, in addition to rare scenting 

 powers, they have first-rate pace and fire. We occa- 

 sionally hunt upland hares on the South Downs, 

 hard by, with the same pack ; and I am bound to 

 say that, although they are good hares, we run into 

 them at least as quickly as we do the hares of the 

 neighbouring marshes. 



The Ground Game Act has wrought in many dis- 

 tricts infinite havoc among hares, and the stock of 

 these animals is, as a whole, nothing like what it 

 was before the introduction of that ill-judged and 

 mischievous measure. The Hares Preservation Act 

 of 1892 is, after all, of little protection. It enacts 

 merely that hares shall not be sold or exposed for 

 sale during March, April, May, June, and July. That 

 does not provide against the killing of these unfor- 

 tunates, and hares and leverets are slain in large 

 numbers during these months. An Act ought to be 



