In addition to the above records, Dr. R. L. Prowse has seen black 
     
     hares at Fort Augustus, St. Peters, Naufrage, Tracadie, Scotchfort, 
     
     Heatherdale, Valleyfield, Launching and Stanley Bridge during the 
     
     past few years. Mr. Earl Corrish of Southport has also seen a 
     
     black hare in the Fort Augustus area and one in Harrington. This 
     
     year an effort was made to collect specimens to determine if they 
     
     were in fact wild hares and the four specimens collected to date 
     
     this winter from hunters and trappers are snowshoe hares. No 
     
     domestic black rabbits have been colleEEEd. 
     
    
   
   
    
     It has been suggested that one hare in 100,000 will be black 
     
     (Mastin, 1975) and correspondence with game departments and museums 
     
     across Canada has revealed that melanistic hares are indeed rare. 
     
     However, the incidence of melanistic hares on Prince Edward Island 
     
     seems quite high. (Many of these sitings were reported by personnel 
     
     from the Fish and Wildlife Division only). It seems likely 
     
    

    
     that close to one in every 100 hares on P.E.I. is melanistic. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Why should melanistic hares survive at all considering they stick 
     
    

    
     out like a sore thumb in winter. One reason why they may be more 
     
     numerous on P.E.I. is because we lack a major predator of the hare, 
     
     the lynx. But other predators such as the fox, the goshawk and 
     
    

    
     the horned owl are numerous enough. Melanistic individuals may be 
     
     selected when fire-blackened areas make the animal better adapted 
     
     through its now "protective" coloration. Certainly, the Pisquid - 
     
     Fort Augustus area which was burned severely in the late 1950's seems 
     
     to be a good area for melanistic hares. Or perhaps we have more 
     
     melanistic hares here strictly because island animal populations often 
     
     have different characteristics due to inbreeding. Whatever the 
     
     reason, P.E.I. does appear to have a high percentage of melanistic 
     
     hares. Have you seen one? 
     
    
   
   
    
     References 
     
    
   
   
    
     Aldous, C. M. 1939. A Melanistic Snowshoe Hare from Maine. 
     
     Journal of Heredity Vol. 30, pages 25 - 26. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Bird, Ralph D. 1955. Melanism in the Varying Fare, Lepus 
     
     Americanus erxleben. Canadian Fieldiaturalist 
     
     Volume 69, page 11. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Mastin, Mary F. 1975. The Snowshoe Hare. Ontario Naturalist 
     
     March 1975, pages 14 — 19. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     - Rosemary Curley 
     
     Fish & Wildlife Division