242 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

only safety is in flight and in the sagacity and cunning it
shows in eluding its pursuers. Many illustrations of the latter
have been recorded. Fouilloux mentions a hare which he
saw start from its form at the sound of a hunter’s hom,
run towards a pool of water at a considerable distance, plunge
in and swim to some rushes in the middle, and there lay down
and conceal itself from the pursuit of the dogs. Another
hare, when closely pressed passed under a gate, the dogs
leaping over it. The hare quickly perceived the advantage
it had gained by this, and so doubled, returning under the
gate, the dogs following over it as before. This was repeated
several times until taking advantage of the exhaustion of the
dogs the hare escaped. The hare will often run perfectly
straight while in view of the hounds, but immediately on
gaining the slightest cover will double, and redouble with
astonishing rapidity, apparently to confuse the scent.
The following anecdote seems to show remark-
Intelligence able intelligence on the part of a hare. It is
ofthe from a statement made by Mr. Yarrell in the
“Magazine of Natural History” :—“A harbour
of great extent on our southern coast has an island near the
middle, of considerable size, the nearest point of which is a
mile distant from the mainland at high water, and with which
point there is frequent communication by a ferry. Early one
morning in spring two hares were observed to come down
from the hills of the mainland towards the seaside, one of
which from time to time left its companion, and proceeding
to the very edge of the water, stopped there a minute or
two, and then returned to its mate. The tide was rising,
and after waiting some time, one of them, exactly at high
water, took to the sea, and swam rapidly over, in a straight
line, to the opposite projecting point of land. The observer
on this occasion, who was near the spot, but remained
unperceived by the hares, had no doubt that they were of
different sexes, and that it was the male—like another Lean-