The Hare's Rising
The rising of a hare from a particular part of a field day after day must surely increase its chances of being exterminated. A farm- dog learns to know where a hare rises, and a man who regularly walks a field with a gun canngt fail to know that a particular hare springs up on the same brow, and, unless terrified, takes almost the same escape-route. The knowledge of a hare's behaviour makes it an easy matter for a pot-hunter to bring him down inside a day or two. He can set a trap in a hole in a hedge or wall, or put down a dpuble- woven wire to achieve the same end. Time seems to be on the side of the hare's enemies. I have noticed -that a new generation favours the, same places. I could almost guarantee to put up a hare on a hill- side where I startled one ten-years ago. It is an extraordinary thin. not so easily explained as the fact that a good trout will be found in a pool where a good one has been hooked before. Perhaps the answer lies in the contour of the ground, its drainage, the shelter and warmth it affords and other less obvious things that attract the hare and make it frequent a place, even after man .has discovered that it favours particular ground.
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