214 



mon on the sandhills all along the Lancashire 

 coast, where I have often sat at night listen- 

 ing to their united concerts. In colour it is 

 brighter than the common species, and a j 

 bright yellow line runs along the centre of j 

 the back. 



Besides these, two turtles, the Hawks bill 

 (Chelonia imbricata ) and the Leathery ( SpJiav- 

 gis coviacca ) have on one or two occasions 

 found their way to our coast, and have there- : 

 fore been included in works on British j 

 Reptiles, but it is mere accident that they I 

 have paid us a visit, and probably driven by i 

 currents against their will. 



It will be seen by this that the true natives j 

 are only few — some ten or eleven species, a 

 moderate sized fern case would hold them 

 all. The descriptions have of necessity been ! 

 very brief, but I hope it will be sufficient to j 

 cause some, if not to study, at any rate to j 

 respect this much despised class of animals. 



OUR PRIZE ESSAYS. 



[We print to-day a paper by an old friend, 

 John Peel," in response to our offer of a 

 prize for the best Life History of one of 

 the British Mammals. Next week we will 

 print a second paper, and we shall then be 

 pleased to have our readers opinions on 

 their respective merits. — Eds.] 



THE COMMON HARE. 



(Lepus timidus.) 

 By John Peel. 



We think it will be unnecessary to give a 

 detailed description of the hare, as the ap- 

 pearance of this pretty animal, alive or dead, 

 must be familiar to everyone. Its general 

 length is about two feet, the weight from J 

 seven to ten lbs. The colour is reddish- i 

 brown, varying a little according to the soil j 

 on which it. lives. The chin and bell}- are 

 white. j 



The Hare is naturally timid and solitary, 



making for itself a form, either in a cover, 

 thick grass, or on arable land, only seeking 

 another home, when necessary to secure un- 

 disturbed quiet. It shows great caution in 

 returning to its form at night, never going 

 straight in, but running round it several 

 times, and dodging backwards and forwards 

 in order to baffle the scent, approaching at 

 last by means of two or three great jumps. 

 Hares feed in the early morning, and also in 

 the evening, and are seldom seen in the day- 

 time, except when disturbed. 



Maunder says "that Hthe are is a very 

 prolific animal, breeding several times a 

 year, and producing three or four young at a 

 birth," but in this cold climate we think they 

 only have two litters in the year. ' The 

 young are able to see as soon as born, and 

 also to run a little, " though during the first 

 fifteen or twenty days through which the} 

 are suckled by the mother," they hardly 

 leave the form in which the}- have been 

 placed, and for this time they are exposed to 

 all kinds of dangers from weasles, stoats, 

 crows, . hawks, and many other foes; mam- 

 living and dead have been brought us in 

 triumph by our dogs. In some cases the 

 mother will come to the help of her offspring 

 when it is attacked, as in the instance of the 

 hare and the kestrel, given in Stanley's 

 Birds," but this we fancy is very uncommon. 



Hares are particularly partial to young 

 corn, though as they travel over a large space 

 of ground, only nibbling a bit here and there, 

 the damage they do to the farmers is almost 

 entirely confined to the paths which they 

 make through the corn. They will also eat 

 a variety of other green stuffs, being especially 

 fond of sow thistle, parsley and lettuce, 

 though these two latter, of course, they are 

 seldom fortunate enough to obtain. Hares 

 do considerable damage by eating the leaves 

 and bark of young trees. We remarked a 

 young ash-bed the other day, in which quite 

 three-quarters of the saplings were killed 

 simply by the nibbling of hares and rabbits. 

 They do not as a rule touch alder trees, ex- 



