340 LEPORID^— LEPUS 



stride. But when closely pressed the Brown Hares were not 

 nearly such good performers as the Irish, "as the latter turns 

 in so much smaller space, is so much quicker off the turn, and is 

 so very stout-hearted. She is never beaten until the greyhound 

 has her in his mouth." This is a plausible view, and agrees 

 with the anatomical distinctions between the two animals — 

 the lighter body but longer legs of the Irish Hare. 



As regards the powers of the Irish Hare when hunted by 

 harriers, Mr Reginald Graham,^ who turned down some at 

 Norton Conyers in Yorkshire, believed them to be faster and 

 stouter than the Brown Hare. 



In actual speed all hares are, except on favourable ground,^ 

 very inferior to greyhounds and doubtless also to racehorses,' 

 which are the only breed of horses capable of being brought 

 into a fair comparison. It is therefore not surprising to find 

 that the late Colonel Thornton, of Thornville Royal, who died 

 in 1823, is credited with having ridden down a Brown Hare at 

 Newmarket in the presence of a large concourse of people ; 

 and that the late Allan McDonogh, a noted steeplechase rider, 

 many times on the Curragh of Kildare turned (presumably 

 Irish) hares after a quarter of a mile's gallop on a chaser. 

 The failure of Mr J. E. Harting* to overtake the hares of the 

 Wiltshire Downs was no doubt due to the fact that his horse, 

 although good, was "not a remarkably fast one." But a race 

 between a horse and a hare must be regarded as a somewhat 

 unsatisfactory contest, the result being largely dependent on 

 the length of the course, the breed of the larger animal, and 

 the character of the going. 



My friend Capt. C. G. Cole Hamilton recently chased a 

 Brown Hare with a motor car. The animal had become so 

 confused that it rushed along a road at increasing speed, and 

 kept ahead of the car until at 30^ miles an hour it was 



' Evidently a Master of Harriers ; see Field, 15th February 1896, 258. 



^ Cf. above, p. 276. 



^ Ernest Thompson Seton (i., 231) concludes that not only hares but greyhounds 

 yield in pace to a blood horse. ' 



* For the facts in this paragraph, see Field, 29th August 1891, 332, and 

 6th February 1909, 214. 



' According to my observations at coursing meetings, a hare can continue to run 

 at her best pace for as much as 100 seconds, but she is frequently caught in about 

 half a minute if unable to reach covert. 



