THE BROWN HARE. 209 



I should put this animal down as a very feeble 

 swimmer. 



SECRET OF SURVIVAL. 



Wherein lies the secret of the hare's survival ? 

 In its fecundity, and there alone. It survives 

 simply because it is better able to stand the huge 

 drainage on its numbers than the creatures that 

 once shared its environment, but are now gone. 

 In some districts its numbers have dwindled to 

 the merest few, and were it nowhere preserved 

 its extermination would be a matter of ten years 

 at the most. Over vast areas of country the 

 hares are totally exterminated by the end of 

 winter ; but during spring and summer, when the 

 warfare against them abates a little, other hares 

 creep in from the sanctuaries farther afield, and 

 make good the shortage. Our old English and 

 Scottish estates are responsible for keeping the 

 hare alive ; and were they to go, the hare would 

 most assuredly go with them, and we should lose 

 a creature that is not only inoffensive to man, 

 but is a joy to behold truly a child of the wild 

 March winds and of the great open places. 



SPECIES. 



Ireland rejoices in a species of hare among 

 other things quite its own. The Irish hare has 

 been introduced to Great Britain, and the British 

 hare to Ireland. 



LENGTH OF LIFE. 



I have no notes on the length of life of captive 

 hares, but there is no doubt that if both were in 

 captivity the hare would in all probability outlive 

 the rabbit by two or three years. In the wild this 



W.A. n 



