THE ALPINE OK WHITE HAKE 



SOMETIMES CALLED THE BLUE HAKE 



THE white hare inhabits many of our mountains. It is 

 not confined, like the ptarmigan, to the tops of the highest 

 and most inaccessible, but, on the contrary, is often met 

 with on grouse-shooting ranges, where there are few crags 

 or rocks to be seen. I have frequently shot it on flats, 

 between the hills, where it had made its form like the 

 common hare ; and, though I have more often moved it in 

 rocky places where it sometimes has its seat a consider- 

 able way under a stone I do not think it ever burrows 

 among them, as some suppose ; for, although hard pressed, 

 I have never seen it attempt to shelter itself, like a rabbit, 

 in that way. Indeed, there would be little occasion for 

 this, as its speed is scarcely inferior to the hares of the 

 wood or plain, and it evidently possesses more cunning. 

 When first started, instead of running heedlessly forward, 

 it makes a few corky bounds, then stops to listen moving 

 its ears about ; and, if the danger is urgent, darts off at 

 full speed, always with the settled purpose of reaching 



