THE ALPINE OR WHITE HARE. 157 



tomed eye ; the hare runs round the place several times, 

 which completely puzzles an observer, and then makes a 

 bound over, without leaving any footmark to detect her 

 retreat. It is hollowed out, like a mine, by the hare's 

 scraping and breath, and the herbage beneath nibbled bare. 



When deer-stalking in Glenartney last autumn, I was 

 quite amazed at the multitudes of alpine hares. They kept 

 starting up on all sides, some as light-coloured as rabbits, 

 and others so dark as to resemble little moving pieces of 

 granite. I could only account for their numbers from the 

 abundance of fine green food and the absence of sheep, 

 which are as much avoided by hares as by deer, from their 

 dirting the ground with their tarry* fleeces. 



An eye-witness, on whom I can depend, gave me a 

 curious account of the tactics of a hill hare, which com- 

 pletely baffled the tyrant of the rocks. Puss, as is her 

 wont when chased by an eagle, sheltered herself under a 

 stone. The eagle took post at a little distance, and watched 

 long, exactly like a cat waiting for a mouse. Although 

 her fierce foe was out of sight, the hare seemed to have a 

 mesmeric knowledge of his vicinity, for she never would 

 move so far from her hiding-place as to be taken by sur- 

 prise. Several times she came out to feed, but the moment 

 the eagle rose she was safe again. At last her pursuer 

 got tired, arid flew away. The white hare has always a 

 refuge of this kind where eagles haunt. 



* Should anybody be disposed to call in question the correctness of this 

 word, I beg to say my title to it is long use and wont: "Tarry woo', 

 tarry woo' ! tarry woo' is ill to spin." 



