The proverbial expression, "Mad as a March Hare," has reference to the insane antics of the Jack-Hare during the rutting season. He grunts and kicks, bucks like a broncho, and has stand-up boxing-matches with his rivals. In bucking he leaps over his opponent and kicks him vigorously with the hind feet. Though usually harmless, these encounters have been known to have fatal terminations. Though regarded generally as a mute animal, this is not the fact. The Hare has a low but clear cry, which has been described as "don't," "[=o]nt" or "aunt," with varying inflections denoting different moods. When wounded or badly frightened it utters a scream like that of a child in pain, and sportsmen have declared that the pitifulness of it caused them to give up shooting Hares. They have also a warning sound made by grinding the teeth, and it is passed on from Hare to Hare, having the same result as the stamping of feet by the Rabbit. The amorous notes of buck and doe are different, and their imitation by poachers and gamekeepers is known as Hare-sucking. The doe is a model mother for a time, and will fight desperately in defence of her young; but as soon as they are capable of looking after themselves she casts them off or deserts them. *Alpine Hare* (_Lepus timidus_, Linn.). Alternatively known as the Scottish or Variable Hare, the present species is intermediate in size between the Brown Hare and the Rabbit. The first name has reference to the fact that it is indigenous only in Scotland and the neighbouring isles. It has been introduced into England and Wales, but except in the northern counties and some of the Welsh mountains has not established itself. The name Variable Hare denotes its change of hue at the beginning of winter after the manner of the Stoat. In Cheshire it is known as White Hare. Respecting this winter whitening of the fur, fierce controversies raged for many years; one school contending that it was due to a complete moulting of the summer fur, as a new growth without colour was produced. The opposition claimed that there was only one moult--in spring--to get rid of the too conspicuous white coat as the snow with which it harmonised melted away. They contended that the old hairs became altered individually by the abstraction of pigment, or by the development of air-bubbles. Evidence which was considered conclusive was brought forward by both sides, and opponents remained unconvinced. In the early days of the twentieth century, however, Metchnikoff showed that the senile whitening of human hair was due to the activity of certain motile cells, which he termed chromophages or colour-eaters, which remove the pigment granules and consume them. At a later date he showed that the same process caused the whitening of the hairs in the Scottish Hare, and of the feathers of the Ptarmigan--which undergoes a similar change of colour. It is noteworthy that the black tips of the ears, like the black tip of the