ORDER OF RODENTIA. 
491 
numerous and varied. It nearly always goes with the wind, so as 
to hear more distinctly the noise made by the hounds, and yet 
prevent its scent being carried to them. It alters and confuses 
its trail, to put its adversaries at fault and to gain time ; it doubles 
frequently, returning precisely in the same course, often jumping 
suddenly to one side to make a break in the scent. If close 
pressed, it crosses rivers, or conceals itself in the middle of a 
pool, only leaving the tip of its nose above water to respire. 
Others have been seen to take refuge among a flock of sheep, 
enter villages, flee into courtyards, make a hundred turns and 
detours on dungheaps, then spring on a wall, and start off again 
after resting. And their numerous wiles are often rewarded by 
success. 
When they are residents of a district, they invariably return 
to their old retreats, where they ma}^ be found even next day. 
In such case, when pursued, they do not go a great distance 
from home, but run in a circle. On the contrary, when the 
animal goes straight from the place where it was started, it 
may be concluded that it is a wandering Hare, probably a male. 
At the breeding season — that is, from January to March — there 
are many males that become wanderers, resulting from a paucity 
of females in their own localities. 
In France the Hare is hunted with a pack of Hounds (Fig. 
213) ; but this sport, from its expense, is now becoming less 
common. It is also hunted with Greyhounds. Their fecundity is 
very great, and it is owing to this provident law of nature that 
the species is not totally destroyed by the numerous efforts used for 
its capture. The female brings forth three or four litters yearly, 
and each is composed of from three to five young ones, which are 
born with their eyes open and their bodies covered with fur. The 
Hare not making a nest, the young are deposited on the bare 
earth, among the herbage, or in a thicket. Nevertheless, the 
mother anxiously tends them, and even defends them against their 
enemies, though, it is feared, seldom with success. Twenty days 
they are suckled, after which the Levrets are sufficiently strong 
to attend to their own wants. Each then retires into solitude, 
and is soon old enough to reproduce. The mean duration of a 
Hare’s life is from eight to ten years.. 
The Hare has a remarkably fine sense of hearing, but it is 
