Hares are good at running. In fact, they are Britain’s fastest land mammal, capable of speeds of about 43mph – usually reached when they are running away from predators. There’s a hare in Keats’ poem Eve of St Agnes, but it’s going nowhere near 43mph. Keats tells us that “the hare limped through the frozen grass”. Maybe it had just escaped from a fox or something. And, of course, frozen grass is not a good surface to walk on, let alone sprint across.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a hare in the wild (or captivity, come to think of it): apparently they are larger than rabbits, don’t live underground and are golden brown in colour (whereas rabbits are grey). That helps a bit, although I’m not really sure exactly how big a wild rabbit is because I’ve never got that close to one. If a hare would stand next to a rabbit the next time I’m walking through a field, that would be a great help. If the hare could turn itself towards the sun to accentuate its golden brown fur, while the rabbit hops down the nearest burrow in a really obvious manner, that would be an even greater help.
Seeing hares isn’t on everybody’s list of things they’d like to do. According to The Flamborough Village and Headland (published 1894), there’s a superstition among some fishermen that if they see a hare on their way to their boat, they should stay at home because it is a sign they won’t catch anything. The advice also covers them seeing women and parsons. So if you live in a small fishing village where there is a female vicar who has a pet hare, you ain’t going to catch much.
But at least you’ll remain upright. Tycho Brahe, the famous and brilliant astronomer, is said to have fainted at the sight of hares. He was fine looking up at the sky and discovering a new star in Cassiopeia, but if he glanced away and saw a rabbit-ish creature with golden brown fur, ostentatiously not digging a burrow, over he went (so they say). He also lost his nose fighting a duel, but later became good friends with his opponent. A fascinating person. I don’t know what he was like at running though.
SteveTLooksBack 