any entire district of Hares. A smart man can often catch Hares in their * forms ’
or strike them on the head with a stick. Instances are on record where two
Hares have been noosed in the same wire, and on one occasion a Hare and a stoat
met their death together. In the eastern counties the method of poaching Hares
is simplicity itself. A butcher’s cart with two lurchers drives along the road. At
a gate the cart is stopped, and the field surveyed. I f a Hare is observed in its
‘ form ’ or out ‘ on feed,’ an order is given to the two dogs, one of which enters
the field and sneaks to the far end of it, while the second takes up its position
by the side of the gate. The cart now drives away for a short distance, and its
occupants stand up and keep watch. Meanwhile the driving dog puts up the
Hare and * heads ’ it straight for the gate, where the second lurcher snaps it as
it crawls under the lowest bar. The cart now returns and the game is quickly
transferred to the ‘ well,’ the dogs take their places under the cart, and the
poachers move away. I watched such an episode one day near to Wrentham in
Suffolk, and the whole affair did not take three minutes. Such smart tactics
seldom fail, even where the keepers are good.
Of an old poacher, the Rev. E. A. Woodruffe-Peacock writes1 : ‘ Old William,
referred to before, was the best poacher of Hares I have ever known. He could
call them all the year round, and take them in their forms with practised ease.
I f he had no stick he could “ fall on ’em unawares.” He boasted that with the
gate or trammel net, a bottle of “ stinker,” and a trained terrier dog, he could take
every hare from a lordship, and if it were not safe to use the net he could snare
all with the help of his dog. Ordinary “ wirers” were laughed at as “ clumsy
hands.” The full extent of his accomplishments I have no doubt I never knew
and the keepers never suspected. I dare not put one or two instances of his cool
audacity in print, for no one would believe them. In the course of a long life
devoted almost wholly to poaching he was never taken red-handed and “ run in,”
for he “ worked alone,” with every labouring man as his friend, but with no one
in his confidence.’
Dogs, cats, and foxes all kill large numbers of leverets. Sometimes the
badger does not despise them in his nocturnal forays, and an otter has been seen
chasing a Hare.2 All large raptorial birds kill them, and the brown owl is not
entirely innocent. Rabbits have the greatest objection to Hares, and will give
them no peace until they have driven them away from the neighbourhood of their
burrows. The rabbit, too, is much more aggressive and plucky in resisting the
1 The Cultivation o f the Common Hare, pp. 17, 18. * Field, 1901, p. 442.
attacks of its enemies; the Hare has never been seen to turn on its natural foe,
or to ignore its presence. The Hare usually goes slowly away with laboured
gallop, and when the stoat or stoats gain upon it, sits down, screams, and closes
its eyes. Rabbits certainly behave in similar fashion, but there are times when
they rise to the occasion and exhibit bravery.
Where overstocking takes place Hares are very subject to enteric epizootics,
a disease in which the intestines are attacked. They are subject to other enteric
diseases, and a form of typhus which affects the lungs. This is invariably fatal,
and spreads rapidly. They also suffer from pulmonary tuberculosis by the presence
of thread worm (F ila ria pulmonalis) in the lungs and air-passages. Mr. Harting
states that in wet seasons they contract maggots in the intestines.
Another disease which attacks the vent, lips, and nose in the form of ulcers
was very prevalent in Lancashire in 1905-1906. It is thus described in the
‘ Field ’ (March 2, 1906): ‘ This disease is giving the owners and their agents a
great deal of trouble and expense, and is interfering most seriously with sport.
It is characterised by the appearance of severe ulceration around the vent and
lips and nose of the animal. This varies considerably in extent and appearance
in different cases. Early in the attack, and where the ulceration is not strongly
marked, the animal does not appear to suffer to any great extent, but in severe
cases, and specially where the ulceration is extensive, the affected parts are
destroyed and eaten away, the animal presenting a most pitiful appearance. The
ulceration and the accompanying scabs are seldom, if ever, found in any other
situation, and at the commencement of the disease the internal organs do not
appear to be affected, but in advanced stages the diseased animals become very
weak and thin, and are quite unfit for sport and useless for food.
‘ Examination of the animals suffering from this disease has recently been
made by Mr. Strangeways, of the Pathological Laboratory, Cambridge, and he
reports that it is of a most infectious character, and is caused by a micro-organism
which he has isolated, and which is readily communicated to healthy Hares by
inoculation. The particulars are given in order to warn those of our readers who
are interested in ground game that the disease has reappeared in a virulent form,
and the prevention of its extension requires careful watching.’
Varieties are common, and numbers of white, pied, and pure albino Hares
have been reported. There is a pretty silvery-grey form in the Perth Museum,
and Mr. Whitaker has two of this colour. About a dozen jet-black Hares have
been recorded at different times. I have never seen a ‘ yellow’ Hare, although a