158 THE ALPINE OR WHITE HARE. 



The brown hare is not on good terms with his mountain 

 cousins. The latter have enormously increased, by the 

 wholesale destruction of the larger vermin, such as eagles, 

 wildcats, martins, &c. They have completely dispossessed 

 the co'mmon ones of those territories where they abound. 

 Like the northern hordes, I rather think they owe possession 

 of the land as much to their numbers as their courage, for 

 the brown hare, although proverbially timid, is very 

 pugnacious. I once saw a battle between two of them, 

 which appeared exactly like monkeys sparring. On slip- 

 ping cautiously forward, to see what this Lilliputian fight 

 could mean, I was much amused to find it was a couple of 

 Jack hares, reared upon their hind-legs, pummelling each 

 others heads and shoulders with right good-will. The 

 blows were sharp and true ; and if all the old brown 

 champions boxed the ears of their alpine kin to the same 

 tune, it must have been no easy matter for the hill-men to 

 make them sound a retreat. 



Should an alpine hare be started at the base of a cairn, 

 if unpursued, she will most likely run up to a large piece 

 of rock, and place her back against it, watching the 

 motions of the enemy underneath. She will remain long 

 in this position, quite still. If the sportsman leaves his 

 attendant at the foot of the cairn, and, by taking a circuit, 

 comes down above, there is no danger of the hare seeing 

 him. The only difficulty is to find out the rock, among so 

 many pretty much alike, especially as its shape from above 

 is often very different from what it appeared below. To 

 prevent mistakes, I generally directed my game-carrier to 



