YOUNG MA31.11ALS.
As to hares—in the Home Counties the earlier leverets were born this year, hi the first week of March. Coursing did not end till mid-March, when every doe that was still likely to breed was heavy with young. Harriers and beagles do not, as a rule, fix an official date for the end of the season but most packs continue to hunt for a good many weeks after hares should be protected, if they are ever to be protected. It is sometimes argued that the huntsman is so sharp eyed and humane that he can and does prevent a heavy doe being hunted. It is rarely true. Rabbits; of course, breed in most months. They are vermin and must be reduced in number ; and in some cases hares are so destructive that they must be regarded as rabbits and shot. But hunting for sport is another question. It is essential to the very definition of sport that Nature's dates should be observed, that we should not hunt the pregnant mammal or shoot the nesting bird. Nothing would be easier than to make out a scientific list of the normal dates when mammals conceive and birds pair and, when that was done, fixing the dose season to suit this naturalists' calendar.
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