IA2 COLLY CLOUT'S CAL^ENDAR. 



under such circumstances we do actually find a white 

 species in our own island. 



On the tops of the higher Scotch hills, in fact, there 

 still linger on among the colder districts a few isolated 

 colonies of a very interesting little rodent, known by a 

 large and puzzling array of aliases — as the white hare, 

 the varying hare, the Alpine hare, and the blue hare of 

 Scotland. In size it stands about midway between the 

 common hare and the rabbit ; but it differs greatly from 

 both in colour, general appearance, and instinctive habits. 

 Throughout the summer months the blue hare is clad in 

 a suit of tawny grey fur, with a slight admixture of 

 longer black hairs ; and as it runs, the shifting lights 

 upon its back and sides produce a faintly bluish effect 

 to the eye, which has gained for it perhaps the com- 

 monest among its numerous popular names. In winter, 

 however, it changes colour, like the ptarmigan and most 

 other sub-arctic species — becoming snow-white all over, 

 except the very tips of its ears, which still remain a 

 lustrous black. It does not burrow nor make a form, 

 but shelters itself in natural crannies of the rock : in this 

 respect agreeing rather with the more primitive and 

 central group of rodents, and exhibiting less specialisa- 

 tion of instinct than either the common hare or the 

 rabbit, which have clearly acquired more developed 

 habits in accordance with their long practice of dwelling 

 among the great open temperate plains most affected 

 by man and by the hunting carnivores — dogs, wolves, 

 ferrets, stoats, and weasels. 



The interest attaching to the blue hare is somewhat 

 akin to that which attaches to the red grouse, as in- 

 volving a curious problem in geographical distribution. 



