The two
animals, however, are sufficiently unlike to be entitled to a separate
introduction in our stories.
Hares have been known to possess a good deal of cunning, which is a
fortunate circumstance for them, as they often need not a little of this
trait of character in their numerous persecutions. "I have seen," says
Du Fouilloux, a French naturalist, "a hare so cunning, that, as soon as
it heard the huntsman's horn, it started from its place, and though at
the distance of a quarter of a league from it, leaped to a pond, and
there hid itself among the rushes, thus escaping the pursuit of the
dogs. I have seen a hare, which, after having run above two hours before
the dogs, has dislodged another hare, and taken possession of its
residence. I have seen them swim over three ponds, of which the smallest
was not less than eighty paces broad. I have seen others, which, after
having been warmly chased for two hours, have entered a sheep-cot,
through the little opening under the door, and remained among the
cattle. Others, again, when the dogs have chased them, have joined a
flock of sheep in the field, and, in like manner, remained with them. I
have seen others, which, when they heard the dogs, have concealed
themselves in the earth, or have gone along on one side of a hedge, and
returned by the other, so that there was only the thickness of the hedge
between the dogs and the hare.
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