Page:The Hare.djvu/34

14 of the crested tit, or to follow the graceful movements of the squirrels as they playfully chase their fellows through the green leaves. If we try to study nature unaffectedly, and start with a wholesome knowledge of our own crass ignorance, we can find plenty of diversion even in working out the habits of such a familiar beast as the brown hare. Although popularly supposed to live exclusively under an open sky, the hare has a strong partiality for the vicinity of covert, to which she often repairs for shelter at the break of day. The wild, free life of the woods is entirely to the taste of the hare. She likes to bound joyously along, unimpeded by the fear of impending disaster; for at the best she is a shy and timid creature, little able to protect her delicate frame from the onslaught of ancestral foes. The amorous character of the hare is well marked. The male sex is generally in numerical excess; to this circumstance are due the bloodless conflicts in which jack hares are accustomed to engage at the beginning of the mating time. The males fight with their feet, and make the down of their opponents fly freely. They are especially interested in the duties of reproduction during the month of March, at which time they are unusually playful and full of antics; hence the proverb, 'As mad as a March hare.' Practical men are not agreed as