THE MOUNTAIN HARE— THE RABBIT 219 



or hunted by scent by a pack of Harriers, Beagles, or the curious short- 

 legged Basset-hounds. Its great power of doubling often saves it from 

 swift Dogs, but its habit of running more or less in a circle is fatal to 

 it when pursued by those which run by scent and gradually tire it out. 

 Hares are not often kept as pets, but, when once their great natural 

 shyness is overcome, have been known to become very affectionate, 

 though often strangely spiteful for creatures with such a reputation for 

 harmlessness. 



THE MOUNTAIN HARE 



(Lefius variabilis) 



The Mountain Hare is somewhat intermediate in size and form between the 

 Common Hare and the Rabbit, though closer to the former ; it weighs about six 

 pounds, and has shorter feet and limbs than our other species. Its coat is of a drab- 

 brown in summer, becoming bluish-grey in autumn, whence the name Blue Hare,, 

 often given to it to distinguish it from the Brown or Common Hare of the lowland 

 country. In winter it becomes pure white, except the tips of the ears, which remain 

 black ; but this change, like the similar one in the Stoat, is not constant except 

 in the colder localities inhabited by the animal, and in the south of Scotland and 

 in Ireland seldom occurs, especially in the latter country. This is an animal of 

 high elevations and cold climates ; with us it inhabits the Scotch mountains, but 

 is, curiously enough, the only Hare native to Ireland. Outside our islands, it is 

 found practically all round the northern parts of the world, a large local form of it 

 being the so-called Polar Hare of Arctic America. 



In Ireland it often produces a buff-coloured variety; and where it meets the 

 Common Hare, the two species sometimes interbreed. 



THE RABBIT 



(Lepus cuniculus) 



Originally the familiar Rabbit must have been an animal of more limited dis- 

 tribution than any of the Hare family, for its really natural home seems to be 

 only Western, and especially South-Western, Europe, particularly the Spanish 

 peninsula, extending to the other European countries bordering the Mediterranean. 

 Now, however, what with its domestication by man and his introduction of it into 

 various countries as a wild animal, it is certainly by far the most numerous of its 

 kind. The wild Rabbit is a small animal compared to most of its tame descendants 



