Of this slender, graceful creature, there are several species. The
animal which passes by the name of rabbit, in America, and is common in
our woods, is a hare. The pursuit of this animal is a favorite sport in
England, and some other countries of Europe.
_Miscellaneous Anecdotes._--In the "Annals of Sporting," for 1822, we
find the following interesting account of a hare: "Two years ago, a doe
hare produced two young ones in a field adjoining my cottage; and the
three were occasionally seen, during the summer, near the same spot;
but the leverets were, I have reason to believe, killed at the latter
end of September of the same year. The old doe hare was also coursed,
and, making directly for my cottage, entered the garden, and there
blinked the dogs. I repeatedly afterwards saw her sitting, sometimes in
the garden, which is one hundred and ten yards by forty-three, but more
frequently in the garden-hedge. She was repeatedly seen by greyhounds
when she sat at some distance, but uniformly made for the garden, and
never failed to find security. About the end of the following January,
puss was no longer to be seen around the garden, as she had probably
retired to some distance with a male companion. One day, in February, I
heard the hounds, and shortly afterwards observed a hare making towards
the garden, which it entered at a place well known, and left not the
least doubt on my mind, that it was my old acquaintance, which, in my
family, was distinguished by the name of Kitty. The harriers shortly
afterwards came in sight, followed Kitty, and drove her from the
garden.
"I became alarmed for the safety of my poor hare, and heartily wished
the dogs might come to an irrecoverable fault. The hare burst away with
the fleetness of the wind, and was followed, breast high, by her fierce
and eager pursuers. In about twenty minutes I observed Kitty return
towards the garden, apparently much exhausted, and very dirty. She took
shelter beneath a small heap of sticks, which lay at no great distance
from the kitchen door. No time was to be lost, as, by the cry of the
hounds, I was persuaded they were nearly in sight. I took a
fishing-net, and, with the assistance of the servant, covered poor
Kitty, caught her, and conveyed the little, panting, trembling creature
into the house. The harriers were soon at the spot, but no hare was to
be found. I am not aware that I ever felt greater pleasure than in thus
saving poor Kitty from her merciless pursuers. Towards evening I gave
her her liberty; I turned her out in the garden, and saw her not again
for some time.
"In the course of the following summer, however, I saw a hare several
times which I took to be my old friend; and, in the latter end of
October, Kitty was again observed in the garden. Henceforward, she was
occasionally seen as on the preceding winter. One morning, in January,
when I was absent, a gun was fired near my cottage. Kitty was heard to
scream, but, nevertheless, entered the garden vigorously. The matter
was related to me on my return home; and I was willing to hope that
Kitty would survive. However, I had some doubt on the subject; and, the
next morning, as soon as light permitted, I explored the garden, and
found that my poor, unfortunate favorite had expired. She was stretched
beneath a large gooseberry tree; and I could not help regretting very
much her death."
Borlase informs us that he had a hare so completely tamed as to feed
from the hand. It always lay under a chair in the ordinary
sitting-room, and was as much domesticated as a cat. It was permitted
to take exercise and food in the garden, but always returned to the
house to repose. Its usual companions were a greyhound and a spaniel,
with whom it spent its evenings. The whole three seemed much attached,
and frequently sported together, and at night they were to be seen
stretched together on the hearth. What is remarkable, both the
greyhound and spaniel were often employed in sporting, and used
secretly to go in pursuit of hares by themselves; yet they never
offered the least violence to their timid friend at home.
Dr. Townson, the traveller, when at Gottingen, brought a young hare
into such a state of domestication, that it would run and jump about
his sofa and bed. It leaped on his knee, patted him with its fore feet;
and frequently, while he was reading, it would knock the book out of
his hands, as if to claim, like a fondled child, the preference of his
attention.
One Sunday evening, five choristers were walking on the banks of the
River Mersey, in England. Being somewhat tired, they sat down, and
began to sing an anthem. The field where they sat had a wood at its
termination. While they were singing, a hare issued from this wood,
came with rapidity towards the place where they were sitting, and made
a dead stand in the open field. She seemed to enjoy the harmony of the
music, and turned her head frequently, as if listening. When they
stopped, she turned slowly towards the wood. When she had nearly
reached the end of the field, they again commenced an anthem, at which
the hare turned round, and ran swiftly back, to within the same
distance as before, where she listened with apparent rapture till they
had finished. She then bent her way towards the forest with a slow
pace, and disappeared.
A hare, being hard run by a pack of harriers in the west of England,
and being nearly exhausted, happened to come upon another hare in her
form. She instantly drew out the latter, and slipped in herself; the
pack followed the newly-started hare, and the huntsmen, coming up,
found the animal they had been chasing, lying down in the form, panting
very hard, and covered with mud.
A gentleman, actuated by curiosity, put one male and two female hares
in a large garden, walled entirely round, where they had plenty to eat.
Judge his surprise, when he opened the gate of the garden in a year
from the time that he had shut in the animals, to find that his family
had increased to the number of forty-seven!
A hare was once seen to start from its form at the sound of the hunting
horn, run towards a pool of water at a considerable distance, plunge
in, and run to some rushes in the middle, where it lay down, and
concealed itself. By this ingenious trick, the animal balked its
pursuers, and effected its escape.