are of the greatest use to less favoured locali- ties.
Hares do not average so large in Bucks (or in the south of the county at all events) as in some other parts of the country the Berk- shire downs for instance. Few leverets are born between August and Christmas, though a doe hare in my possession at the time of writing was picked up by me when a field of wheat was being cut here on 8 September, which was at that date so small that she could sit easily on my hand, and had to be fed for some time on milk with a teaspoon. In January many leverets make their appear- ance ; e.g. a doe shot here on the 17th of that month contained a single foetus within two or three days of birth, and in most years those does that are not already in young take the jack during the month with probably very few exceptions. On 7 May, in a mea- dow near here, I saw eight hares in company going through a most interesting and divert- ing performance closely resembling a 'musical ride ' by troopers at a military tournament. Probably seven of these were jacks, all court- ing a single doe. The individual already mentioned is the only specimen of this species that I have kept in captivity ; she was a most engaging and delightful animal as a pet while small, but as she grew she seemed to adopt ' Excelsior ' as her motto, and rode her hobby to an extent I could not endure for long. When let out of her box in the room, after she had grown to about a third of her full size, she would constantly sit and gaze upwards to the tops of all the higher pieces of furniture, and with considerable ingenuity in taking advantage of any projections, she quickly achieved the ascent of one piece after another, and I was speedily obliged for the sake of the various ornaments and knick- knacks, independently of the ink-stand, to banish the amusing and playful little sinner to an out-door cage. Whether this habit was an idiosyncrasy of this particular indi- vidual or whether Cowper and the other hare fanciers had no ink-stand or breakable orna- ments, I do not know. Certainly however to any one who lives without these amenities, I can recommend a hare as the most charm- ing pet possible. She found by experiment that one particular door (of four) of a large bird-skin cabinet was specially resonant, and she delighted to drum on it with her fore feet for long and frequent spells. For an interest- ing and amusing account of a tame hare, I would recommend any one interested to read a paper by Mr. R. Deane, F.L.S., in the Transactions of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society, xxvii. pt. ii. 1894-5. I venture to offer a suggestion as to the preparation of hares for the table. Contrary to the accepted custom, draw as soon as possible after death, including in this removal the liver, which allows the blood to run. Then hang the hare by the chin instead of the hind legs, which promotes the drainage of the blood, and the result is something distantly approaching the highly es- teemed ' hunted hare.'
[Mountain or Blue Hare. Lepus timidus, Linn.
The blue hare has never existed as an in- digenous animal so far to the south as Bucks ; at any rate within historic times.]
30. Rabbit. Lepus cuniculus, Linn.
Bucks contains no great rabbit-warren or preserve on so large a scale as some other counties, but rabbits are nevertheless ubiqui- tous and very common ; and in some parks and other places the ground is literally honey- combed by them. Rabbits, like probably every kind of herbivorous animal, vary in size according to the locality they come from ; the chemical properties of the soil producing varying degrees of nutriment in the herbage of which their food consists. All about the parish of Great Marlow in which I lived un- til recently, rabbits were small. Tame rab- bits breed during the greater part of the year, but cease to do so during the winter months ; but with the wild rabbit the case appears to be different. When shooting in September one constantly sees little rabbits which have but lately emerged from the nest, but few does at that time contain foetuses ; later in the season however, during December and especially January (in most years) almost every doe rabbit is heavy in young. Five seems to be the most usual number for a litter, then four ; and nine is the largest number I have met with. Tame rabbits produce of course much larger litters. The intestines of rabbits are largely infested with tape-worms ; and besides these, scolices of a different species are almost invariably present on the rectum, and generally on the mesentery as well. These are rounded gelatinous bodies, rather smaller than a dried pea. Sometimes they are present in clusters to the number of thirty or even more, while it is exceptional to find an adult rabbit that does not harbour at least two or three. Rabbits frequently also harbour small flukes (Distoma). In the autumn they are sometimes half covered by harvest-bugs.
Mrs. Raikes of Chandos Villa, Bucking- ham, informs me (in litt. 9 May 1903) that there are in that neighbourhood (apparently
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