THE COMMON OR BROWN HARE 281 



threatened. The exclamation is clear but not loud, and, 

 indeed, often only just audible. The same sounds were 

 described by Cornish^ as "a kind of grunting squeak," and by 

 Mr Woodruffe- Peacock as a " snuffling grunt," which is 

 the accompaniment of a fight — "a peculiar grunting and 

 hissing sound, produced by the throat and lips together." 



The guttural pipe of the doe and the minor key of her 

 sucklings are noticed by Mr Woodruffe- Peacock as well- 

 known sounds of evening and early morning where hares 

 abound. These cries appear to have been first written of by 

 Edward Jesse.^ That of the dam he considered faint, 

 and somewhat like the feeble bleat of a fawn ; the leverets 

 answer in still feebler tones. The mother's call has been 

 mentioned also by Mr Drane and Mr Millais. The latter's 

 information was obtained from a keeper, who informed his 

 employer, Sir Richard Graham, that this peculiar cry — 

 " something between a grunt and a whistle " — can be heard 

 distinctly at a distance of three or even four hundred yards. 

 According to this man, the doe follows the scent of her young 

 just like a dog, and utters this curious call as she goes along, 

 and a similar one when she wishes to summon her litter to her 

 side. Mr Drane's description is slightly different, for he states 

 that the expression " oont " was emitted rather than uttered 

 by his pet hares to their young when loose at night in his 

 house ; it was so very subdued that to hear it at all an 

 observer must be at very close quarters. The discrepancy 

 may have arisen from the natural differences between observa- 

 tion in a house and out of doors. 



Mr Woodruffe- Peacock describes a warning sound produced 

 by the grinding together of the teeth. It is passed on from 

 hare to hare over a wide area, and puts every individual 

 within hearing on the alert for danger. Its effect is like the 

 stamping of the hind feet amongst rabbits. 



There are also " the low and plaintive tones," as they have 

 been called, of the amorous buck and doe, which, together 

 with the sounds already described, are so well known in the 



' Op. cit, p. 156. 



^ Scenes and Occupations of a Country Life, 1853, 310, as pointed out by 

 Harting, Field, 4th March 1905, 375 ; see also The Hare. 



VOL. II. T 



