BLUE HARES
SIR,—The statement by your contributor, Mr. Ian Niall, in your issue of August 10 that the blue hare 'is quite evidently a native of England as far south as Derbyshire' is hardly correct. Since 1918 I have been familiar with the sight of white spots (blue hares in winter dress) scattered over barren expanses of moor- land in North Derbyshire and West York- shire, as seen from heights between Penistone, Bleaklow, Derwent Edge, etc., and always understood the species had been introduced. How obvious the white hares are in the absence of snow! The introductions took place in the 1870s to the Yorkshire moors near Penistone. Greenfield and Saddleworth, and the animals have spread across the con- tinuous high moors to the Peak District. Eyam Moor appears to have been reached by 1927. The introductions and their results are described by Mr. R. Hewson in The Naturalist for July, 1956, who also mentions introduc- tions into the Scottish border country, Northumberland, Lancashire and Wales; mostly less successful than those to the West Riding moors.—Yours faithfully,
RALPH CHISLETT
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