BLUE, OR MOUNTAIN, HARE 



Blue, or Mountain, Hare. — ^We have had the good 

 fortune to see this beautiful British mammal at close 

 quarters in the Island of Arran, which island has been 

 described by one of our most eminent scientists as a 

 naturalist's paradise. Two long holidays spent upon the 

 island have certainly confirmed this by no means too 

 lavish praise, as the fauna and flora are both rich and 

 varied, and there is always the mountain and glen, 

 tumbling " burn " and wooded fastness, shore and sea, 

 close at hand. It is chiefly in the Highlands and Islands 

 of Scotland, as well as in Ireland, that the Blue Hare 

 makes its home, though it also occurs in a few of the 

 northern counties of England. 



It is rather smaller than its commoner relative, attain- 

 ing a length of twenty-one inches, but the chief interest 

 associated with it is the change of dress which it under- 

 goes ; the Winter coat being white, so as to afford 

 protection upon the snow-covered hills that the animal 

 frequents. The colour of the Summer fur is greyish, 

 and not blue, as one of its names would lead us to 

 suppose. The hind legs are almost as short as those on 

 the front part of the body, and although the ears are 

 similarly tipped with black, they also are shorter than in 

 the common species. Living as it does among the 

 mountains, hills and high moors of the North, it is only 

 to be expected that its fleetness of foot is less than that 

 possessed by its cousin of the fields. It has for com- 

 panions the Black and Red Grouse, the Red Deer, 



Ptarmigan, Peregrine Falcon, Eagle, Buzzard, and Curlew, 



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