indeed that reaches eleven pounds. Enormous hares have been killed in rare instances.
By this I mean to say that individual hares have undoubtedly scaled between thirteen and fourteen pounds. But these were over-fed monsters, which had glutted their carcases to repletion. Now the Mediterranean hare only averages from five to six pounds when full grown. It is, therefore, obviously inferior in bulk to the typical animal. I have not been able to obtain the weights of any Russian hares. Those which are killed in Central Europe appear to be about the same size as our own hares. Professor Fatio, for instance, writes that in Switzerland the brown hares average from eight to ten pounds apiece. He has known of larger specimens. Some of them weighed as much as twelve pounds, but these, of course, were remarkable. The weight of the hare, like that of almost any animal, depends a good deal on the season of the year, and on the relative abundance or paucity of food. It is generally held to be in the finest condition in late autumn and early winter. Nature has ordained that the hare should become fat and well nourished in the fall of the year, in order that it may be the better fitted to endure the hardships and privations to which it is exposed in the depth of winter. Nevertheless, some hares are in
