Page:Cynegetica.djvu/44

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28
Hare Hunting,

than on the Continent; for in moſt of them there are no Foxes, who deſtroy both them and their young, neither eagles, who infeſt large mountains rather than ſmall ones, and the iſland mountains are generally ſmall.

And Hunters ſeldom frequent the uninhabited iſlands, and the inhabitants of the others are few, and in general not lovers of Hunting, and it is not permitted to carry dogs into the ſacred iſlands; few Hares, therefore, being deſtroyed, and others continually bred, there muſt neceſſarily be abundance of them.

Their eyeſight is by no means ſharp; for their eyes project, and their eyelids are ſhort, and not ſufficient to protect the ball, on which account their eyeſight is weak and indiſtinct.

Add to this, that the quantity of ſleep this animal takes is by no means beneficial to the ſight, and the ſwiftneſs of its pace contributes greatly to dazzle it, for ſhe paſſes ſwiftly by every object before ſhe diſcovers what it is.

When ſhe is purſued, the fear of the dogs and hunters takes away her preſence of

mind,