206 
PASSIONAL ZOOLOGY. 
after man, ambuscades in the neighborhood to catch the poor 
animal on its escape from another fox. 
The manoeuvres of a hare flying before the hounds, may be ob- 
served either from the top of a hill, or by following its tracks on 
the snow. Whoever has thus observed it, will remember the sud- 
denly-increased dimensions of the animal’s leaps at the moment it 
nears the goal. The winter snow reveals exactly the daily cus- 
tom of the hare. Its return to its lair is constantly preceded by 
these prodigious bounds — invariably terminated by a side leap, 
which brings it to the place it has chosen for the day. These 
enormous bounds and side leaps explain the difficulty in ap- 
proaching the hare, and why the dogs whine with impatience 
around the animal so long without knowing whence to start it. 
Follow the hare as it leaves the lair coming out upon the plain 
to make its first circuit. 
The circuit is a sort of half circle about a thousand yards in di- 
ameter, which the animal describes around the point of departure. 
More than once in frosty weather we have seen an old buck hare, 
escaped from many dangers, draw before him points of from five 
to seven thousand yards, and throw dogs and masters off the track 
by these unexpected stratagems, but this is rare. In this first cir- 
cuit the hare has not even thought of profiting by its wits — the 
danger is not pressing. Only one thing is essential ; to know the 
character and the legs of its enemies, so as to proportion its de- 
fense to their means of attack. You see how it stops every hund- 
red paces in the plain, its ears erect to calculate the swiftness of 
the pack, and the ferocity of their intentions, as the tone of their 
voices nears and swells. 
If he has to do only with the crooked legs of bassets, he shows 
his contempt for this race of tortoises, by gamboling before them 
or even squatting in the first furrow. Many and many a cunning 
hare has fallen a victim to its contempt for the crooked-legged 
bassets. I would prefer them to the most magnificent races in 
hunting with a gun. 
The hunter profits by the carelessness of the hare, which plays 
before the basset, to murder it. The basset spares man ; it forms 
a pack for hunters not overstocked with cash. If the pursuit 
