480 



THE HARE. 



great leap at right angles to its former course, and lie quietly hidden while the hounds run 

 past its spot of concealment. It then jumps back again to its track, and steals quietly out of 

 sight in one direction, while the hounds are going in the other. 



The Hare also displays great ingenuity in running over the kind of soil that will best suit 

 the formation of her feet, and be most disadvantageous to her pursuers, and has been known, 

 on more than one occasion, to break the line of scent most effectually by leaping into some 

 stream or lake, and swimming for a considerable distance before she takes to the land again. 

 A Hare has been seen to brave 'the salt waters and tossing waves of the sea when closely 

 pressed by the hounds, and to evade them by its bold ingenuity. Sometimes an old crafty 



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HAKE.— Lepus limidus. 



Hare will baffle the hounds for a succession of seasons, until it is as familiar to the hunters as 

 any of the dogs or horses, and makes the hounds so ashamed of their failures that they cannot 

 be induced to chase it with any good will. 



As may be supposed from the fact of its taking the water, the Hare is a good swimmer, 

 and can sustain itself upon the surface for no inconsiderable time. One of these animals was 

 seen to swim to an island which was at least a mile distant from the main land, and to perform 

 its task right bravely. The clever animal actually waited upon the shore until slack water, 

 when the tide is not running, and having ascertained this fact by frequently examining the 

 rippling waves as they came curling over the beach, launched itself boldly upon the water, 

 and swam rapidly to the nearest point of land. 



Although possessed of a remarkably delicate sense of hearing, and furnished with very 

 quick eyesight, the Hare seems to employ those senses upon objects which are behind her 

 rather than on those in her front. On more than one occasion a Hare has been known to 

 swerve in her course, and to run into the very midst of the hounds without having either seen 

 or heard them. 



The Hare does not live in burrows, like the rabbit, but only makes a slight depression in 

 the ground, in which she lies so flatly pressed to the earth that she can hardly be distinguished 



