Page:The Hare.djvu/52

30 to be forfeited to the King, if in the sessions; and to the lord of the leet, if in the leet.' But the popularity of the amusement seems in time to have rendered the statute a dead letter. James I. adopted more stringent measures, ordering that an offender should be committed to the common gaol for six months, unless he paid the churchwardens for the use of the poor 20s. for every hare which he had traced and killed in the snow.

Dr. Shufeldt, the American ornithologist, made some valuable observations upon the leaping powers of hares in New Mexico. 'While rambling,' he says, 'in the wintertime over the snow-covered plains in this region, I have recently interested myself in ascertaining how far, on a level surface, a hare or rabbit may leap at each spring, at a time when either of these animals is put to its best speed. Two species of Lepus are quite abundant in this vicinity, viz. the Mexican hare (L. callotis callotis), and the sage hare, which is really a medium-sized rabbit (L. sylvaticus Nuttall), while the first mentioned is a big hare. It is not uncommon to find here, in certain localities, a stretch of perfectly level prairie, extending for a distance of three or four miles, and when this is covered by an even layer of one inch or more of snow, it offers an admirable surface on which to take account of the