56 



MAMMALS. 



ill the heavy carse lands. It would almost seem that the poor 

 Hare has no friends, and therefore " Hit him hard " is the order of 

 the day. The young are pounced upon in the summer-time, chased, 

 and never get rest or peace all the remainder of the season from 

 loose ranging farmers' collies, chased at night and netted at the 

 gates by poachers, snared at all times, shot upon the hill-roads when 

 snow covers the hills, or in the hill-farm gardens, and also slain in 

 hecatombs at the big shoots — with about as much sport as shooting 

 shee^p or driving deer or sticking jpigs in Chicago I It is indeed a marvel 

 that any remain at all. Never was a more unfortunate piece of 

 tinkering legislation passed. It used to be at one time the test of a 

 good gamekeeper to find the Hares numerous. Now I consider the 

 test lies in the weight of such Hares as are left, as proving that they 

 at least are kept fairly quiet and not " run down " persistently. 



Ohs. — Hybrid Hare. The late Eev. H. A. Macpherson mentioned 

 to me {in lit., Sept. 9, 1895) that he had a photograph of a Hybrid 

 Hare lately killed near CriefF, and said he would send me a copy. 

 This, however, was forgotten. 



Lepus variabilis, Pcdl. Varying or Blue Hare. 



The late Mr. John Colquhoun has a somewhat significant note in his 

 lecture on the Ferce Naturce of the British Isles (1822). He there 

 speaks of the rarity of the Mountain Hare on the hills about Ben 

 Vorlich, and relates that on several occasions he had ascended Ben 

 Yorlich and surrounding hills in search of Ptarmigan and other sport, 

 and speaks of the "Hermit Hare" of Ben Yorlich — a "solitary 

 hermit." 



But the old Statistical Account antedates this evidence of its 

 presence, and tells of it occupying lands further to the west and not 

 uncommonly. 



Again, by 1873, Mr. Colquhoun says they are now "swarming 

 on Glen Falloch and Corynge"; and speaks of them as having 

 "descended in force on Arrochar and Glen Douglas," and "numerous 

 in Glen Luss and Glen Fruin " (Clyde). See also the account of this 

 species in our volume on Argyll. 



At the present time the White or Blue Hare is very abundant 

 over most suitable ground, and especially among the mountains 

 which surround Glen Lyon and Glen Lochy. It is found abundant 

 also on many lower-lying moors, such as the Moor of Kannoch, and 

 even comes down to cultivated lands at times ; and this has become 

 a practice of much more frequency of late years, say within the 



