582 



THE HARE. 



stigmatizing it as cowardly or timid, because it runs away when it is hunted. Half a 

 hundred horsemen, together with a pack of dogs, band together in pursuit of one 

 defenceless Hare, which is likely to run away under such circumstances. There is 

 hardly any animal, from an elephant or lion downwards, that would not run away in 

 like manner ; and it is very unfair to brand the poor Hare with an offensive epithet 

 because it does not attempt to fight a field of horsemen and a pack of hounds. 



However disposed the Hare maybe to flight, when matched against such overwhelm- 

 ing odds, she is really a courageous animal when more fairly dealt with. 



A countryman had captured a young leveret in a furrow, and was proceeding to 

 mark it by notching its ears, when he was interrupted in his work by the mother Hare, 

 which flew at him with singular courage, and struck so fiercely with her feet that she 

 tore his hands rather severely. Finding that she could not release her child, she stood 

 within a few feet of the captor, and waited patiently until he liberated the little Hare, 

 with which she went off. The Hare is a very pugnacious animal, and is in the habit 

 of waging the most savage fights with those of its own species. 



The very long and powerful hind legs of the Hare enable it to make prodigious 

 bounds, and to cover a considerable space of ground at every leap. The hinder limbs 

 are, indeed, of such great proportionate length that the animal does not walk, but pro- 

 ceeds by a series of hops or leaps. The Hare is so constituted that it never becomes 

 fat, however rich and fertile may be the pasture in which it feeds, and is therefore en- 

 abled to run for a very great distance without being fatigued, as would be the case if 

 its muscles were loaded with fat. It can also leap to a considerable height, and has 

 been known to jump over a perpendicular wall of eight feet in height in order to escape 

 from its pursuers. 



It is a wonderfully cunning animal, and is said by many who have closely studied its 

 habits to surpass the fox in ready ingenuity. Appearing to understand the method by 

 which the hounds are enabled to track its footsteps, it employs the most crafty man- 

 oeuvres for the purpose of throwing them off the scent. Sometimes it will run for- 

 wards for a considerable distance, and then, after returning for a few hundred yards 

 on the same track, will make a great leap at right angles to its former course, and lie 

 quietly hidden while the hounds run past its spot of concealment. It then jumps back 

 again to its track, and steals quietly out of sight in one direction, while the hounds are 

 going in the other. 



The Hare also displays great ingenuity in running over the kind of soil that will best 

 suit the formation of her feet, and be most disadvantageous to her pursuers, and has 

 been known, on more than one occasion, to break the line of scent most effectual by 

 leaping into some stream or lake, and swimming for a considerable distance before she 

 takes to the land again. A Hare has been seen to brave the salt waters and tossing 

 waves of the sea when closely pressed by the hounds, and to evade them by its bold in- 

 genuity. Sometimes an old crafty Hare will baffle the hounds for a succession of seasons, 

 until it is as familiar to the hunters as any of the dogs or horses, and makes the hounds 

 so ashamed of their failures that they cannot be induced to chase it with any good will. 



As may be supposed from the fact of its taking the water, the Hare is a good swim- 

 mer, and can sustain itself upon the surface for no inconsiderable time. One of these 

 animals was seen to swim to an island which was at least a mile distant from the main- 

 land, and to perform its task right bravely. The clever animal actually waited upon the 

 shore until slack water, when the tide is not running, and having ascertained this fact by 

 frequently examining the rippling waves as they came curling over the beach, launched 

 itself boldly upon the water, and swam rapidly to the nearest point of land. 



Although possessed of a remarkably delicate sense of hearing, and furnished with very 

 quick eyesight, the Hare seems to employ those senses upon objects which are behind 

 her rather than on those in her front. On more than one occasion a Hare has been 

 known to swerve in her course, and to run into the very midst of the hounds without 

 having either seen or heard them. 



The Hare does not live in burrows, like the rabbit, but only makes a slight depression 

 in the ground, in which she lies so flatly pressed to the earth that she can hardly be 

 distinguished from the soil and dried herbage among which she has taken up her 



