THE IRISH HARE 



333 



or less on the Banneobela range, but not in some other parts. Again, 

 the hares in some enclosed parks are believed to be particularly subject 

 to whitening, which in such cases has been attributed to deterioration 

 caused by inbreeding (thus Pomeroy in Harvie-Brown and Buckley's 

 Fauna of Argyll and Inner Hebrides, 1892, 43, footnote). 



The white may begin in patches, which then show up in strong 

 contrast to the portions of the coat which remain pigmented ; or it may 

 take the form of a gradual bleaching over the whole body. Young 

 animals seem to show as much irregularity as adults. 



There is some evidence to show that on the whole does whiten more 

 readily (and retain the white pelage longer) than bucks. Years ago the 

 late G. H. Kinahan found {Land and Water) that in Connemara in 

 March he could tell bucks and does by their colour alone, and the con- 

 clusion reached at Kilmanock is similar. 



Within the above limits whitening is dependent on temperature, 

 being more prevalent in hard than in mild winters (see Zoologist, 

 1882, 107); but not always clearly so, since in some mild seasons a few 

 individuals may attain to a conspicuous degree of whiteness. 



At Kilmanock the white appears at no very regular period, but 

 never before December, and sometimes later. Individuals seem on 

 occasions to whiten slowly, but at other times so rapidly that to suppose 

 that the change is caused by a moult is inconceivable ; indeed I have 

 found a moult on 9th November 1910, before the whitening season. 



Having once whitened, an animal remains so until the next moult, 

 which may be postponed until some time during the first half of May, 

 and apparently is often late in animals which have whitened to an excep- 

 tional extent. The date of the spring change is very irregular, and I 

 examined whitened hares in process of moult and changing back to 

 brown, on 20th and 21st January 1910. A very white female in the 

 Dublin Museum from Ballybrophy, Queen's Co., labelled February 1901, 

 is also moulting from white to brown. 



Irish Hares introduced at Vaynol, near Bangor, North Wales (see 

 above, p. 329), are said to become more or less white as a general rule 

 (Ed. oi Field, ist August 1891, 174). In Mull they do not turn white as 

 readily as the Scottish Hares. 



Thompson mentions a hare which, after having been white in winter, 

 was easily recognised by its light colour in the following summer. . 



The skull is similar to that of L. timidus scoticus, but larger (see 

 table of dimensions) ; it shows primitive characters in the flatter inter- 

 orbital region, and less conspicuously elevated superciliary processes. 



In the teeth, the incisors are longer and heavier than in any other 

 British Hare, though not so broad as in europceus ; the molars are long 

 and stout. The mandible (Fig. 48, p. 315) is consequently very deep, 

 and the growing ends of the lower incisors overlap the anterior cheek- 



VOL. II. Y 2 



