Page:The Hare.djvu/45

Messrs. Mann of Aigle Gill reared a tiny leveret, which had been caught on their farm while still too young to feed itself. It was nursed and tenderly cared for. In the course of time it grew up and became a favoured member of the household, the recipient of many herbs and other delicate and toothsome tit-bits. This creature was very quiet and retiring in its habits during the hours of daylight; but, with the arrival of the gloaming, it threw aside its reserve, and became as captivating a plaything as a man could desire. My friends tell me that as long as they kept this hare (a period of about two years) they could generally foretell the weather of the following day, from the actions of their favourite. The creature became extremely lively and restless before a change of weather, and was evidently highly susceptible to atmospheric conditions. If she was unusually frolicsome and uneasy, the weather was sure to undergo a marked change. I am not aware that this fact had been recorded previously to the present notification of its existence. In the summertime this doe hare—for it proved to be a doe—was kept in a little hutch placed just outside the house. My friends used to lean out of their windows in the deep stillness of night, to listen to their captive calling softly to the free jack hare which came to visit her, but always