 European hares are primarily herbivorous . During the summer , they eat grasses , herbs and field crops . Their preference is for wild grasses and weeds but with the intensification of agriculture , they have taken to feeding on crops . During the winter , they eat herbage , twigs , buds and the bark of shrubs and young fruit trees . They have been known to eat their own green , pellet feces to recover proteins and vitamins . Two to three adult hares can eat more food than a single sheep . 
