274 LEPORID^— LEPUS 



be at its best when going uphill, and is said to be obliged to 

 run diagonally in descending a steep bank to avoid over- 

 balancing itself, and, if such a course can be escaped, rarely 

 to run downhill before hounds. 



As regards the length of pace, a friend of Mr Forrest's has 

 supplied measurements taken on snow, from hind foot to hind foot 

 varying between about 7 feet 6 inches (90 inches) and 8 feet 9 

 inches (105 inches). In view of Mr W. D. Dovaston's note of 

 the 1 5-feet ^ leap of a hare from the hiding-place of her young, 

 taken in conjunction with the observations alluded to below,^ 

 there can be no doubt that much longer distances are 

 frequently attained. 



A good instance of leaping power in another direction 

 was placed on record by Mr Alexander E. Parker,^ who saw a 

 hare clear a wall seven feet six inches in height. 



The animal has the reputation of possessing much cunning 

 and of being the master of many wiles whereby to hoodwink 

 its enemies. Mr Kearton,* for instance, describes the deceptive 

 way in which it enters its form,* but it is probable that the 

 cleverness has been exaggerated,® especially by the older 

 writers misinterpreting exceptional incidents or excited by pure 

 imagination. An animal which, ever since the dawn of litera- 

 ture, has lent itself to pursuit or capture in so many forms, 

 and thus to constant observation by a host of sportsmen — not 

 always a very accurate class — very naturally becomes a centre 

 for legends. Amongst the artifices attributed to it by the 

 old French writer, Jacques du Foilloux,'^ are the recognition 

 of the hunter's horn, on hearing which one is said to have run 

 towards a pool at a considerable distance, plunged in, and swam 

 to some rushes in the middle, where it lay concealed. The 

 thoroughly authenticated manoeuvres of a hunted hare include 



1 Below, p. 287. 2 See under Irish Hare. 



3 Field, 15th February 1896, 258. « Op. cit. supra, 176. 



^ " . . . With step revers'd 



She forms the doubling maze ; then ere the morn 

 Peeps thro' the clouds, leaps to her close recess." 



William Somerville (1692-1743), The Chase, Bk. ii. 



° Ernest Thompson Seton rates the hares of Manitoba as stupid animals. 

 ' La Venerie, 1561. 



