Page:The Hare.djvu/56

34 mentioned once already, but which always strikes me as being curious, is the dislike which hares manifest towards rabbits. Perhaps I should rather say the animosity which rabbits display towards hares; for, singularly enough, the smaller animals are sufficiently bold to drive the hares before them. This can easily be verified by observation in the early hours of the day, in any place where both species happen to be numerous.

The hare is essentially a fastidious animal. Like the sheep, it refuses to graze on grass lands which rabbits have defiled. The hare loves to feed on the tender shoots of the young barley when it is only about a foot above the ground, which is of course in the month of March. St. John thought that the human eye had a fascinating power over the hare. 'As long as you keep your eye fixed on that of the hare, and approach her from the front, she appears afraid to move, and, indeed, will sometimes allow herself to be taken up by the hand. A hare, when dogs are near her, is particularly unwilling to start from her form. In cover shooting many of the old and experienced hares steal off quietly the moment they hear the sound of dogs or beaters at one end of the wood; and thus their quick senses of hearing and smelling enable them to escape