HARES. 41 



But we will return to .Molega Road and its 

 attractions. In the winter twilight one may see 

 them quietly browsing, or bounding here and 

 there as noiseless as ghosts. They have a habit 

 of taking a course through the bushes where 

 there is the least obstruction of limbs, and thus 

 beat out paths through the moss, and in the 

 winter through the snow. They prefer to run 

 in these paths, and turn out here and there to 

 feed. Boys are aware of their habits, and easily 

 snare them by placing a small pole across the 

 path and tying a wire snare to it, and sticking 

 some brush cunningly on each side of the snare 

 to hold it steady, and bar up all other ways but 

 the one through the snare. Now Bunny could 

 jump over the pole with the greatest ease, but 

 he will not ; he stops, lays his ears well kick, 

 and carefully puts his head into the snare as if 

 he were bent on committing suicide. In a 

 moment the fatal noose is tightened about his 

 neck, he jumps here and there in the most frantic 

 fashion, and ends by strangling. The owner of 

 the snare finds him in the morning, a few feet 

 from the path, all " drawn up " and frozen, even 

 to his eyes. Sometimes the snare is tied to a 

 bent sapling, and the rabbit in his struggle sets 

 it free, only to find himself dangling in mid-air. 

 Either his meat, or his fur, or both, is the 



