282 LEPORID^— LEPUS 



country to those who spare the time for quiet watching, that 

 no one seems to have considered an accurate description of 

 them worthy of being committed to paper. Otherwise a recent 

 discussion on hare-calling, or "hare-sucking," as it is often 

 called, would never have been deemed necessary. With the 

 advent of modern firearms and the general decay of methods 

 involving time and patience, hare-sucking has certainly fallen 

 into disuse in England. But it is well known to gamekeepers 

 and poachers, and the best proof of its existence is that 

 hare-calls may be purchased at the present day from many 

 gunmakers.^ In March 1910, two men were convicted in 

 the north of England for killing six buck hares by the use of 

 such a call,^ and the practice undoubtedly survives commonly 

 amongst poachers in other localities.^ The bucks are usually 

 enticed by an imitation of the cry of a doe, but it appears that 

 the scream of a leveret in distress may also be used. Calling 

 hares requires some little skill and a precise interpretation of 

 the sound to be imitated. A blade of grass properly manipu- 

 lated is far more effective than a purchased call used without 

 knowledge, for hares seem to be more discriminating than 

 rabbits, which can be attracted by very careless calling. 



Outside Britain the calling of animals by imitation of their 

 cries, is, especially in the sexual season, very prevalent. 

 Hares are thus killed in Arctic America ; * in France, where, 

 according to Mr Harting, the poachers make use of an ivy 

 leaf; as well as, in former times at any rate, in Greece.^ In 

 North China, according to Mr M. P. Anderson, the Common 

 Hare® of Chefoo "is not wild, but will stop again and again 

 if one whistles sharply." In Germany the cry of a suffer- 

 ing hare is used to attract foxes within gunshot,^ and experts 



' As Westley Richards of Birmingham. A variety of calls for birds and animals 

 were figured in the Shooting Times and British Sportsman, 26th Nov. 1910, 18. 



^ Field, 23rd April 1910, 733, where will also be found a summary of the printed 

 information available in regard to the voice of hares and the use of the hare-call. 



2 It is " common enough " (Woodruffe-Peacock in lit.). 



* E. A. Preble, North Amer. Fauna, No. 27, 1908, 200. 



5 Richard Chandler, Travels in Greece, 1776, 128, records the slaughter of eleven 

 thus called, including '' a female big with young." 



° L. swinhoei of Thomas, see Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 14th January (published 

 June) 1908, 10. 



' Henry Scherren, Field, 20th March 1909, 510, and 27th November 1909, 974. 



