Page:The Hare.djvu/51

Rh do not ascend the hillside, as sheep would try to do under similar circumstances; they either lie in their forms as described, or pick their way about the skirts of the preserves. As long as the snow is soft and treacherous, it is dangerous for the hare to abandon the shelter of her favourite cover in order to forage for food out in the open fields.

I must not omit to notice the fact that when fresh snow has fallen a hare is easily tracked by the imprints of her feet. Countryfolk have always entertained a weakness for this variety of sport. It is a little surprising that it should ever have been thought necessary to declare it illegal in our mild climate. The fact is that the hare can bound with great ease and speed over the surface of frozen snow. It sinks easily, however, into soft snow, and cannot readily make good its escape from a fast dog; the latter, being more powerful than the hare, finds less difficulty in ploughing its way through the yielding substance. In view of the class distinctions already discussed, it is interesting to notice that Henry VIII. allowed no one, whatever his station in life or estate, to trace, destroy, or kill any hare in the snow with any dog, bitch, bow, or otherwise. 'And the sessions or leet may enquire thereof; and after inquisition found, they shall for every hare so killed, cess upon every offender 6s. 8d.,