THE COMMON OR BROWN HARE 285 



a dog in mistake for another hare ; ^ and militants, perhaps of 

 both sexes, when disturbed from their forms by cattle, have 

 had the impertinence to strike the intruders on the nose with 

 their paws.^ A buck's demeanour, even when not abso- 

 lutely " mad," always tends to be eccentric, and his 

 excitable actions, sniffing of the ground, and usually in the 

 rear position of a party, often betray him to an initiated 

 observer. 



As an instance of precocious pugnacity Cornish's account * 

 of a tiny leveret may be cited ; it was one of five found 

 together, and therefore new to the world, yet it repeatedly 

 sat up and struck at a stick with its fore paws. 



Although the term "mad as a March hare" fully expresses 

 the popular idea of the commencement of the sexual season,* 

 this period in reality begins very much earlier, probably in 

 November or December, waxes furious in March, slackens 

 after May, but contifiues in milder form until July, when it 

 ceases for the autumn. But young leverets have been found 

 in every month of the calendar, so that the hare, which is 

 evidently polyoestrous, may be said, locality and climate 

 suiting, to propagate its species all the year round. 



It is impossible to say how many litters are brought forth 

 by each doe during the twelve months, but the fact that young 

 may be found throughout the year makes it unlikely that there 

 can as a rule be less than two or three. 



The period of gestation is usually stated ^ to be thirty 

 days, which would be the same as that of the Rabbit. 

 But, having regard to the distinction in size between the 

 two animals and the marked difference in the stage of 

 development reached at birth, it is probable that the period 



* E. D. Cuming, op. cit., 34. ^ Cornish, op. cit., 156. ^ Op. cit, 157. 



* " The Master of Game " {op. cit., 20-2 1 ), translating from Gaston de Foix, has some 

 good remarks on the breeding habits of hares: — "The hares have no season of 

 their love for, as I said, it is called ryding time, for in every month of the year that it 

 shall not be that some be not with kindles [young]. Nevertheless, commonly their 

 love is most in the month of January, . . . and from May unto September they be 

 most slow, for then they be full of herbs and of fruits, or they be great and full of 

 kindles, and commonly in that time they have their kindles. ... A Hare beareth 

 commonly 2 kindles, but I have seen some which have kindled at once sometime 

 6, sometime 5 or 4 or 2 " [error for 3]. 



' E.g., by E. R. Alston (in Bell), MacGillivray, Jenyns, Blaine, Bingley, etc. 

 VOL. II. T 2 



