THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
Perhaps the heaviest on record is one which was shot in October, 1876, 
by Mr Robert Henderson on the Longwitten estate, near Morpeth, and is 
asserted to have weighed 13| lb. 
Habits . — The mischievous operation of the Ground Game Act during 
the past thirty years and the neglect of the Legislature to provide a reason- 
able close time for hares have caused a woeful diminution of this most 
useful animal. It is no exaggeration to say that in some counties, more 
particularly in the south of England, the number of hares now to be met 
with is about one -fifth of what it was before the Ground Game Act was 
passed in 1880. The so-called Hares Preservation Act of 1892 imposes 
no penalty for killing hares out of season in England. It merely provides 
that they are not to be sold or exposed for sale during the months of March, 
April, May, June and July. In Ireland, however, no one may kill or take 
a hare between April 20 and August 12 under a penalty of 20s. In nearly 
all the Irish counties, however, at the present time the Grand Juries have 
altered and extended the close time by periods varying from fifteen to 
twenty days. In County Dublin it extends from March 31 instead of April 20 
as heretofore. 
Hares have suffered reduction more than rabbits for several reasons. 
Their larger size renders it more difficult for them to escape observation; 
they do not as a rule go to ground, unless hard pressed by a dog; they 
breed less often in the year, and have fewer young at a birth. Added to this 
they are inconsiderately coursed and hunted so late in the spring that 
many does in young are killed, and are then unfit for food. Under this 
disastrous process of reduction it is no wonder that English hares are 
getting scarcer every year. The champions of sport and the advocates of 
humanity and common sense have alike failed to convince their unreason- 
able opponents of the wisdom of enforcing a close time. One would have 
supposed that the vested interests of masters of harriers, owners of grey- 
hounds, game preservers, and game shooters, to say nothing of game 
dealers and game consumers, would have long since operated to secure 
the passing of such a Bill as is needed. 
Hares breed when twelve months old, and the doe, after thirty days’ 
gestation, brings off from two to five young. The number will depend on 
the age and well-being of the doe. In her first litter she may not have 
more than one or two, but growing older and stronger may produce three 
or four, exceptionally five. On this point, in June, 1888, my old friend, 
the late Mr Mansel Pleydell, of Whatcombe, Dorset, wrote me a letter which 
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