HARES NO LONGER SPEEDY 203 



sized hares seen in autumn have small chance of 

 enduring through the winter ; with the setting in of 

 cold weather their fate is sealed ; they are unable to 

 thrive on the rough frosted food, and are claimed by 

 a lingering death. In the wet days of autumn, when 

 showers of leaves and rain are falling, hares change 

 their quarters in the woods for the open fields, pre- 

 ferring of all places a stubble-field free of grasses 

 that hold the moisture. The fall of rain and moist 

 leaves has an opposite effect upon the rabbits 

 driving them to the shelter of their newly renovated 

 burrows, where they lie all day, snug, warm, and 

 dry. 



We have heard of terriers who have chased hares 



and caught them after a burst of less than a field's- 



breadth ; but we have never seen a terrier 



Hares no catch a sound hare in a fair run, though we 



lonsrer 



Speedy have known a clever little dog to flash up a 



ditch and seize a loitering hare, and we 

 have often known a hare to be caught napping in her 

 seat. The hares that terriers catch after short runs 

 have been in some trap or snare, or have been shot, 

 or otherwise wounded, or probably they are diseased. 

 The wonder is that hares can run so fast and long 

 as they do in a state of advanced disease. Hares 

 suffer each year in some places from a disease of a 

 typhous nature, aggravated by feeding on frosted 

 clover. Parting the white fur on the underside of 



