HARE VISION
We were driving up the rough track into the hills, and travelling slowly over the large boulders and loose stones exposed last winter, when I saw two hares directly ahead of us. Both were youngsters, and one was nibbling the fine grass and facing in the direction in which we were going, while the other came head-on down the track towards us. The engine of the car made very little sound and I watched that odd thing about hares—their unawareness of danger ahead and alertness to the rear. The hare with his back to us was sixty or seventy yards away, and the one facing us about as many feet away. Immediately the farther-away hare began to run and soon went out of sight, having spotted the danger at once. His brother continued to amble on until suddenly a sound gave the alarm. The young hare stopped, sat up, turned his head and then sprang off the track. Neither had ever encountered a car before, I felt sure, but it was that 'blind spot' to the front that put the nearer hare in danger. The last thing a hare seems to do is to look where it is going!
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