THE COMMON OR BROWN HARE 275 



doubling back on its tracks,^ and then leaping off at right angles 

 to start in another direction ; entering an outhouse or other 

 building, or lying down in the herbage or ivy on the top of a 

 wall; and Mr J. S. Gibbons^ has known one to run along the 

 top of a wall so as to throw hounds off the scent, and 

 also to lie down beside a fresh hare,^ apparently in the hope 

 of shifting the chase to that animal. But, these incidents 

 apart, the activity of the animal, its marvellous powers of 

 leaping and dodging when under pursuit, the value of its flesh 

 as food, and, lastly, its abundance, form a combination of char- 

 acters so admirable as to require no exaggerated praise. It is 

 not, indeed, surprising that it is still so honoured by sportsmen 

 that the compassing of its end now attracts more attention, and 

 is accomplished with more ceremonial, probably, than that of 

 any other creature except the fox. Similarly, its welfare and 

 preservation have for centuries engaged the attention of Parlia- 

 ment, the result being a long series of Acts, the last of which 

 has probably not yet seen the light. 



The pursuit of hares for sport by packs of harriers * or a 

 brace of greyhounds is probably as popular in Britain as ever. 

 In the case of harriers, puss, although vastly inferior to her° 

 pursuers in powers of endurance, is, under fair conditions, their 

 superior in swiftness. The quarry's chance of saving her life is 

 inversely proportional to the size, and consequently the speed of 

 the hounds used. According to Mr Paget, with smart twenty- 

 inch * hounds, having good noses and pace, the odds are as much 

 as five to one against a hare, and if assisted by the huntsman, 

 "a perfect pack of harriers should kill every hare they find." 



1 Often observed, as by J. O. Paget, Hunting (Haddon Hall Library), 1900, 259, 

 but seldom analysed from the point of view of the hare, which may sometimes " run 

 her foil" or "lay her maze" prompted by no more subtle feelings than those of 

 indecision and, perhaps, of confusion. 



^ "Fur and Feather" Series, The Hare, 221. 



^ J. C. Walter, Stray Leaves of Travel, 1910, 177-178, when hunting with beagles, 

 observed an exhausted hare turn out a fresh one and herself lie down in the form just 

 vacated. Paget {op. cit, 257) believes that hunted hares intentionally squat beside 

 fresh ones, and that commonly. He has known one to run along a road for two 

 miles. 



* A word apparently connected with the verb "to harry " rather than with "hare." 



' Hares are usually mentioned in the feminine gender by coursing men (above, 

 p. 252). 



° I.e., height at shoulder. 



