railway. Platelayers get their share of such chance booty, and know well upon what parts of the line a search along the metals in the early morning will prove most profitable. Mr. A. T. Story reports the experience of a driver who used to run over one of the western lines threading a well-preserved country. 'Game was in abundance, and frequently coveys of birds were seen upon the line. One day, however, while going slowly up a steep incline with a goods train, he astonished his mate by stepping down from his engine, getting over the fence into a field, and immediately afterwards returning with two live hares. As they were going up the incline he saw two hares fighting. When they do this they sit on their hind-quarters and go at it like two boxers. This they generally do in such a blind rage that they may be approached unnoticed. Our driver knew this, and so quietly went up to them and took first one and then the other by the scruff of the neck, as he put it, and then walked off with them to his engine.'[1]
The power of scent is well developed in hares, and doubtless assists the old doe in finding her young. Poachers often rub their hands with fresh
- ↑ Strand Magazine, viii. p. 286.
