86 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
and is found, also in the Alps. In our own islands 
its home is confined to the northern half of Scot- 
land, where it inhabits the high mountains, and 
ranges as far south as Perthshire. From the latter 
country, in 1865, Colonel J. Crompton Lees 
brought a number to turn loose on his grouse 
moors near Greenfield in south-west Yorkshire. 
This attempt proved abortive, the animals all dy- 
ing out; but the experiment was again tried in 
1881, and in the two following years, when alto- 
gether about fifty hares were released. 
The second essay has proved remarkably suc- 
cessful, and to-day the Alpine hare is abundant 
on all the wild moorland hills from Greenfield 
along the border of Yorkshire to the neighbour- 
hood of Sheffield; on the moors of Langdendale 
and Macclesfield in Cheshire; and on practically 
all the hills from Yorkshire to and beyond Kinder 
Scout in the Peak District of Derbyshire. 
Strange to say, this hare has increased but 
slightly in a northward direction, although spread- 
ing at least twenty miles towards the south and 
the east. The conditions seem quite as suitable, 
but personally I have never seen one more than a 
mile or two northward of Greenfield; while, occa- 
sionally, I have noticed the animals by the score 
during a walk across the Cheshire or Derbyshire 
hills in winter or spring. They are, naturally, 
difficult to see when snow is about; but in mild 
weather the are as conspicuous as fox terriers 
against the dark background of peat or rock or 
heather, and on a clear day one can make a pretty 
fair estimate as to the numbers present in any 
district. 
It is often stated locally that the Alpine hare 
is driving out the more desirable native species. 
I doubt this, except perhaps amongst the bare 
limestone hills of Derbyshire. On the grouse 
moors, where the Alpine hare is most at home, the 
common hare is seldom seen; and, in my exper- 
ience, the Alpine hare does not stray any dis- 
tance from the moors on to the farmed lands of 
the hill-sides. Really its only competitor is the 
grouse, and I have never heard any charge of 
damage so far as the birds are concerned. 
Since the Greenfield experiment, the Alpine 
hare has been introduced by Mr. C. G. Assheton- 
Smith on the hills near Bangor in North \yales — 
successfully, but the animals are nothing near 
so numerous, as they are on the Pennines; and 
the species has also been turned out in Ireland, 
where it is said to be thriving. This is no matter 
for surprise, as the Alpine hare is a very close 
relative of the Irish hare, but of course the latter 
animal does not turn white in winter. The Alpine 
hare, by the way, was formerly native to England, 
for remains have been found during explorations 
of a cave in Westmorland. 
Amongst other instances of recent successful 
hare introductions, the Irish hare is now estab- 
lished in Carnarvonshire and on the island of Mull 
in Scotland; the British hare has been acclimatised 
in Ireland and Switzerland; and the European hare 
in southern Sweden. At present, however, the 
most notable instance is certainly the striking suc- 
cess of the Scotch hare on the Pennine hills since 
its introduction thirty years ago. 
THE GREY SQUIRREL. 
SIR FREDERICK TREVES ON A COMING 
PLAGUE. 
To the Editor of "The Observer." 
" Sir, — Some ten years ago, or more, speci- 
mens of the grey squirrel were let loose in Regent's 
Park. They have multiplied there, and afford 
now a diversion to the children who visit the 
park. That they are pleasing to children is 
apparently the only good quality that these rat- 
like animals — which would be classed as vermin 
in their native haunts — have, up to the present, 
exhibited. About the time named some grey 
squirrels would appear to have been introduced 
into Richmond Park. As this step could hardly 
have been undertaken with a reasoned purpose, 
it must be assumed to be the brainless act of 
some muddler in natural history. 
By 1908 ! the invader had reached the southern 
end of the park. Up to that date the fascinat- 
ing British squirrel had found a home in the 
enclosure which he had probably occupied for 
centuries. On the appearance of the foreigner 
the British squirrel vanished, and, so far as 
Richmond Park is concerned, he is now extinct. 
How he was driven out I do not know. In the 
spring of 1908 I examined the bodies of two 
dead British squirrels picked up in my garden. 
They showed no marks of violence nor of gross 
disease, but they were extremely emaciated. I 
conclude that the grey squirrel had robbed their 
caches, and that they had been exterminated by 
starvation. 
These German-minded invaders now fell upon 
the gardens, and as destroyers of gardens they 
are unsurpassed by any animal or bird that lives. 
They eat everything that can be eaten, and des- 
troy twenty times more than they eat. 
They eat buds and the young shoots of trees. 
They are devoted to strawberries, but prefer to 
take a bite out of a dozen rather than to eat 
one entire. The have an utter contempt for nets, 
since they bite through any that come in their 
way, and soon reduce a new net to a thing of 
holes. They eat gooseberries, but only Mich 
as they can reach from the ground*. They clear 
all the bushes up to a certain height, but as they 
