THE HABE. 



kind. A man who declined a " set-to " with a gorilla, wotild 

 not be sconted as a poltroon, but rather — ^unless he were well 

 armed, which, of course, puts quite another complexion on the 

 matter — be commended for his discretion. The same man, 

 however, would be expected to resist a human foe — nay, if he 

 were au Englishman and the said foes Chinamen, he might 

 reasonably be expected successfully to resist five of them. 

 Judged by this standard, the hare is a very plucky animal in- 

 deed; for, among themselve:), the most sanguinary encounters 

 are continually taking place ; and it is no uncommon thing to 

 find a hare with its ears torn to ribands by the teeth of its 

 brethren. Besides, we have not far to search for instances 

 wherein the timid hare has shown itself fearless of man him- 

 self. Here is one, viewed and related by no less credible a 

 person than the Rev. J. Gr. Wood : — " A countryman had cap- 

 tured a young leveret in a furrow, and was proceeding to mark 

 it by notching her ears, when he was interrupted in his work 

 by the mother hare, which flew at him with singular courage, 

 and struck so fiercely with her feet that she tore his haudfl 

 rather severely. Finding that she could not release her child, 

 she stood within a few feet of the captor, and waited patiently 

 until he liberated the little hare, with which she went off." 



Whatever may be said of its courage, no one will impeach 

 its cunning. For this quality even master fox himself may 

 own that he is no match for the hare. When the animal hears 

 the terrible voices of the approaching dogs, she at once sets 

 off, nor pauses till she gains some sort of eminence from which 

 she may get a fair view. Her length of ear enables her to 

 catch sounds at a very great distance, and her peculiarly pro- 

 minent eyes, placed as they are far back, enable her to see 

 almost as distinctly behind as before her. When she pauses 

 to listen for the coming of her enemies, she rears on hei lung 

 hind-legs and so obtains a tolerably extended view. VVnen 

 hard pressed, she is capable of the most crafby manoeuvres for 

 tne puipose of throwing the dogs off the scent. It has Doun 

 known to leap to the U>p of a close cut Kojge, ar"' b run 

 along for a ccnsiderab'p distanr"; to betake itse¥ to fixrzB 

 bushes, and to leap from one to the other without touching 

 the ground; to run forwards for a considerable distance, and 

 then, after returning for a few hundred yards on the same 

 track, to make a great leap at right angles to its former course, 

 and lie quietly hidden while the hounds ran past its place of 

 concealment ; then to jump back agai^i to iIk track, and steal 



