THE MOUNTAIN HARE 
have made half a dozen “ sub-species ” out of them. And yet they were 
all “ British forms.” 
But to return to Lepus variabilis^ which I have seen and shot in Scot- 
land and Ireland, as well as in North Wales, where it has been introduced. 
Even in its summer coat, when its colour is darkest, its appearance and 
movements are so unlike those of the brown hare as to distinguish it at 
once from the latter at any distance. 
Whether the Scottish and Irish hares are distinct is a question upon 
which there used to be a difference of opinion. That difference was ex- 
pressed eighty years ago when, chiefly on account of the erroneous belief 
that the Irish hare did not turn white in winter, it was proposed to call 
the latter Lepus hibernicus. Bell thereupon separated them in the first edition 
of his “British Quadrupeds,” 1837; but on reconsideration, subsequently 
decided that they were identical. Tomes and Alston shared this view, 
as expressed in the second edition of the “British Quadrupeds,” 1874, in 
the preparation of which they both co-operated, and their opinion has 
since been generally accepted by both English and continental naturalists. 
Yet, after the lapse of forty years, the question has been once more revived, 
and in the latest publication on British mammals we are invited to share 
the author’s opinion that the Scottish and Irish hares are specifically 
distinct.* In this view I am unable to concur, believing that the slight 
differences which are relied upon for differentiation of the latter may be 
attributed to the influence of the milder Irish climate, and the modified 
conditions of life under which Irish hares have had to exist. 
Perhaps the most noticeable difference to be observed between the Brown 
and the Mountain Hare (irrespective of colour) is the superior weight 
of the former, and its longer ears and hind limbs. It goes without saying 
that hares on well farmed land, subsisting on spring corn, rich grass, 
clover, and roots, are likely to be in better condition and weight than those 
to be found in the Highland deer forests and on comparatively bare moun- 
tain sides. The average weight of a mountain hare in Scotland may be set 
down as between 5 lb. and 6 lb.; the heaviest I have noted, shot in Caith- 
ness, weighed 7| lb., and the biggest in Ireland 9 lb., but this was excep- 
tional. Very good ones will weigh 8 lb., but there are a great many probably 
little over half that weight, and those obtained upon the heather in Ireland 
are not nearly so heavy .f 
* Barrett Hamilton, British Mammals, p. 328. 
tSee Harvie Brown, Fauna of Argyll, p. 43, footnote. 
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