Page:The Hare.djvu/40

18 leverets do not breed nearly so fast as those kittled in March, April, and May.'

Here I may observe that the hare makes her nest in a tuft of grass or rough herbage, carefully concealed from prying eyes by the stems which she is artful enough to pull over it. It is frequently placed in a pasture field, and almost always in a dry situation, often on a knoll of ground slightly elevated above the level of the rest of the field. The doe is a good parent, but she does not usually suckle her young by day, preferring to nurse the tiny leverets under cover of darkness. These latter are fairly hardy and can be reared by hand without difficulty. The domestic cat is sometimes used as a foster-mother for leverets. 'When shooting in Hampshire on the 15th September,' writes Mr. Wm. Houghton, I killed a doe hare out of a small piece of turnips, and shortly afterwards found near the same spot three small leverets. Wishing to save their lives, I enquired in the neighbourhood for a cat with kittens, and soon after found one with four, about the same age as the leverets—I should say about a week old. Removing three of the kittens, I substituted the young hares, which the cat has taken to kindly, and when I left a few days after they were getting on nicely. Having understood that if more