The tracks of hares are long in winter owing to the length of night, and short for the opposite reason during summer. In winter, however, their scent does not lie in early morning, when the rime is on the ground, or earth is frozen.[1] The fact is, hoar frost by its own inherent force absorbs its heat, whilst black frost freezes it.[2]
[1] Or, "when there is hoar frost or black frost" (lit. "ice").
[2] Or, "the ice congeals them," "encases as it were in itself the heat," i.e. the warm scent; aliter, "causes the tracks to freeze at the top."The hounds, moreover, with their noses nipped by the cold,[3] cannot under these conditions[4] use their sense of smell, until the sun or the mere advance of day dissolves the scent. Then the noses of the hounds recover, and the scent of the trail begins to exhale itself perceptibly.[5]
[3] Reading {malkiosai}, Cobet, "N. Lect." 131. "Mnem." 3, 306; Rutherford, "N. Phry." p. 135. = "nipped, or numb with cold." For vulg. {malakiosai} = "whose noses are tender," see Lenz ad loc.
[4] Lit. "when the tracks are in this case."[5] As it evaporates. Aliter, "is perceptible to smell as it is wafted by the breeze to greet them."Heavy dews also will obliterate scent by its depressing effect;[6] and rains occurring after long intervals, while bringing out odours from the earth,[7] will render the soil bad for scent until it dries again. Southerly winds will not improve scent--being moisture-laden they disperse it; whereas northerly winds, provided the scent has not been previously destroyed, tend to fix and preserve it. Rains will drown and wash it away, and so will drizzle; while the moon by her heat[8]-- especially a full moon--will dull its edge; in fact the trail is rarest--most irregular[9]--at such times, for the hares in their joy at the light with frolic and gambol[10] literally throw themselves high into the air and set long intervals between one footfall and another. Or again, the trail will become confused and misleading when crossed by that of foxes.[11]
[6] Cf. Plut. "Q. Nat." 917 F, ap. Schneid.
[7] Cf. Theophr. "C. Pl." xix. 5, 6; xx. 4.
[8] Reading {to thermo}. Aristot. "Gen. An." iv. 10. Zeune cf. Plut. "Symp." iii. 10, 657. Macrob. "Sat." vii. 16; Athen. 276 E. Al. {to thermon}. See Lenz ad loc., "the moon, especially a full moon, dulls the heat (or odour) of the tracks."[9] Cf. Poll. v. 67; ib. 66.
[10] "Playing with one another, in the rivalry of sport." [11] Lit. "when foxes have gone through before."Spring with its tempered mildness is the season to render the scent clear, except where possibly the soil, bursting with flowers, may mislead the pack, by mingling the perfume of flowers with the true scent.[12] In summer scent is thin and indistinct; the earth being baked through and through absorbs the thinner warmth inherent in the trail, while the dogs themselves are less keen scented at that season through the general relaxation of their bodies.[13] In autumn scent lies clean, all the products of the soil by that time, if cultivable, being already garnered, or, if wild, withered away with age, so that the odours of various fruits are no longer a disturbing cause through blowing on to the line.[14] In winter, summer, and autumn, moreover, as opposed to spring, the trail of a hare lies for the most part in straight lines, but in the earlier season it is highly complicated, for the little creatures are perpetually coupling and particularly at this season, so that of necessity as they roam together for the purpose they make the line intricate as described.
[12] i.e. "with the scent into a composite and confusing whole." [13] Or, "owing to the relaxed condition of their frames."[14] Lit. "The fruity odours do not, as commingling currents, injure the trail."The scent of the line leading to the hare's form lies longer than that of a hare on the run, and for this reason: in proceeding to her form the hare keeps stopping,[15] the other is in rapid motion; consequently, the ground in one case is thickly saturated all along with scent, in the other sparsely and superficially. So, too, scent lies better in woody than on barren ground, since, whilst running to and fro or sitting up, the creature comes in contact with a variety of objects. Everything that earth produces or bears upon herbosom will serve as puss's resting-place. These are her screen, her couch, her canopy;[16] apart, it may be, or close at hand, or at some middle point, among them she lies ensconced. At times, with an effort taxing all her strength, she will spring across to where some jutting point or clinging undergrowth on sea or freshet may attract her.
[15] "The form tracks are made by the hare leisurely proceeding and stopping at times; those on the run quickly."[16] Lit. "Anything and everything will serve to couch under, or above, within, beside, now at some distance off, and now hard by, and now midway between."The couching hare[17] constructs her form for the most part in sheltered spots during cold weather and in shady thickets during the hot season, but in spring and autumn on ground exposed to the sun. Not so the running[18] animal, for the simple reason that she is scared out of her wits by the hounds.[19]
[17] "The form-frequenting hare."
[18] "Her roving congener," i.e. the hunted hare that squats. The distinction drawn is between the form chosen by the hare for her own comfort, and her squatting-place to escape the hounds when hunted.
