TH^ HAUNT OF THE HARE. 145 



and his large ears are lifted by the wind of his 

 progress. Overtaken by the cartridge, still the hare, 

 as he lies in the dewy grass, is handsome ; lift him 

 lip and his fur is full of colour, there are layers of 

 tint, shadings of brown within it, one under the other, 

 and the surface is exquisitely clean. The colours are 

 not really bright, at least not separately; but they 

 are so clean and so clear that they give an impression 

 of warmth and brightness. Even in the excitement 

 of sport regret cannot but be felt at the sight of those 

 few drops of blood about the mouth which indicate 

 that all this beautiful workmanship must now cease 

 to be. Had he escaped the sportsman would not 

 have been displeased. 



The black bud-sheaths of the ash may furnish a com- 

 parison for his ear-tips ; the brown brake in October 

 might give one hue for his fur; the yellow or buff 

 bryony leaf perhaps another ; the clematis is not whiter 

 than the white part. His colours, as those of so many 

 of our native wild creatures, appear selected from the 

 woods, as if they had been gathered and skilfully 

 mingled together. They can be traced or paralleled 

 in the trees, the bushes, grasses, or flowers, as if ex- 

 tracted from them by a secret alchemy. In the 

 plumage of the partridge there are tints that may be 

 compared with the brown corn, the brown ripe grains 

 rubbed from the ear ; it is in the corn-fields that 

 the partridge delights. There the young brood are 

 sheltered, there they feed and grow plump. The red 

 tips of other feathers are reflections of the red sorrel 

 of the meadows. The grey fur of the rabbit resembles 

 the grey ash hue of the underw^ood in which he hides. 



