328 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



very low in Scotland. Nowhere are you very far away from 

 a deer forest and eagles, and the latter are satisfied to leave 

 the grouse alone if they can get blue hare in summer and 

 white hare in winter. The Alpine hare is much easier for an 

 eagle to catch than either grouse or ptarmigan. 



As to brown hares, they can only be plentiful where the 

 relations between landowner and tenant are of the very best. 

 The latter can, if they like, kill hares all the year round. Good 

 land, a liberal landlord, and yearly tenancies are the conditions 

 under which hares can thrive. The author likes to see plenty 

 of them as proofs that the tenants are not unsportsmanlike, and 

 that the keepers are friendly with the farmers and enemies to 

 the poachers. Opposites in both cases have not been quite 

 unknown. 



It has been said that hares can be " called up " by poachers. 

 Perhaps that is so ; the only cry of the hare the author has 

 heard is that distress note that will often, on the contrary, drive 

 away the other hares. If they will come to call, they must be 

 in the habit of calling. It is the note of the doe hare that is 

 supposed to be imitated. If she calls her young she has no 

 cause to call the "jack"; she is found by him by the trail scent, 

 and is worried far more by his attentions than she likes. It is 

 not uncommon to see half a dozen "jacks" persecuting one 

 doe hare, and continuing to do so for hours if not for days 

 together. The "jack" seems to hunt the trail of the doe when 

 it is hours old, and long after any harrier would notice it. 



The esteem in which the hare was held in the Middle Ages 

 is shown by a verse attached to an English translation of the 

 Norman-French Le Art de Venerie, by William Twici, hunts- 

 man to King Edward II. : 



"To Venery y caste me fyrst to go, 



Of wheche iiij best is be, that is to say, 



The hare, the herte, the wulfhe, the wylde boor also ; 



Of venery for sothe there be no moe." 



Who wrote the verse does not appear to be accurately 

 known ; evidently it was not Twici. 



