66 Behavioural Observations of the Brown Hare Lepus europaeus
Flux (1981) undertook studies of several species of hare, including Lepus europaeus, in the wild and
in captivity. A number of his observations are relevant to mine:
♦ Brown Hares 'back-track' ie they lay a confusing trail before entering a form. This was
certainly not the case during my observations, and Flux (1981) docs concede there is some
disagreement as the reality of back-tracking in Brown Hares.
♦ several claims are made about the position and use/re-use of forms;
♦ favoured forms provide shelter from the sun and wind, and are often orientated so the
animal can keep its back to the wind
♦ on being disturbed from its form, a hare may return immediately, later or desert it completely
(perhaps depending on the nature and degree of disturbance, and the desirability of the
form)
♦ Brown Hare forms arc only occasionally reused: in one study cited, only 10 out of 140
forms were used a second time, and there was no evidence of use for a third time. However,
experimental disturbance may have contributed to the lower rate of re-use than might be
suggested by my observations
♦ undisturbed forms, at least of related species, may be re-used over periods of weeks, months
or years
♦ in captive groups at least, the ownership of forms changes frequently.
♦ hares have individual ''personalities', with behavioural responses varying between individuals
and according to weather conditions, amongst other factors; that much is certainly apparent
from my observations.
As recently as 1981, it was considered that hare behaviour has been little studied in a scientific
manner (Flux 1981) - 'much of what we know is a mixture of myth, folklore and hunters' tales'. The
observations presented above cannot be claimed as a serious scientific study, but they do serve to
confirm (or in part refute) stated facts about hare behaviour.
References
CORBET, GB. & HARRIS, S. (eds.) (1991) The Handbook of British Mammals (Third Edition).
Blackwell, Oxford.
FLUX. J.E.C. (1981) Field observations of behaviour in the genus Lepus. In Myers, K. & Maclnnes, C.E.
(eds.). Proceedings of the World Lagomorph Conference. University of Guelph, Ontario, pp 377-96.
FRAGUGLIONE, D. (1961} L'acuitc visuelle, auditive et olfactivc du lievre commun (Lepus europaeus
Pallas 1778). Rev. Roy. St-Huhert Club Belg, no 5, 6pp.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 17 (2000)