Country Life
Hare racing
Peter Quince
Strangely enough, the hare is the only wild animal in these islands which ever shows much willingness to challenge man. It is a paradoxical characteristic. in an animal which is proverbially fearful and elusive; but the fact is that the hare depends for its very life upon its remarkable speed, and sometimes it seems inclined to take a dangerous pride in this prowess. A hare will take on a motorcar or even a taxi-ing aircraft on occasion, and a contest of speed, to a hare, is the equivalent of a duel or a battle,
I came across a hare the other day while driving along a straight Norfolk road. He waited in the usual way until I was close enough to see him in full detail — whiskers, black eartips and all. Then the powerful hindlegs went into action, propelling him forward in a sort of explosion of acceleration. Clearly, though, he was far from exerting himself to
411118tatorpe August 4, 1911 the limit; he kept to a confident. comfortable-looking pace, just
keeping his distance and no more When I slowed down to give more room, he, in a lordly waY' slowed down also.
We travelled in procession like this for a couple of hundred yards Although there were hedges 01 either side of the road, it woulo have been easy for him to darl through one of the many gaps and then lose himself in a field. He declined that easy way out, pre' ferring to stick to the straight road. One could easily believe that he was enjoying the race, feeling sure, no doubt, of his own reserve of speed.
I felt rather mean when, quite suddenly, his nerve appeared C.° falter, He half-turned, while still galloping forwards, then made few wild swerves to left and to right. I thought for a moment he was going to face about and try te leap past, or even over, the ca Hares do this sometimes; in the same way, when fleeing from a heath fire, they will sometime about-turn and attempt to leaP over the pursuing flames. I re duced speed again. He, having.gt last seen danger near and plain. instantly produced his dazzlin6 emergency spurt. Straight ahead still, but with every muscle driv' ing him forward in a beautiful fluid progress. I dropped bad again, estimating his speed at nOt less than thirty miles an hour, and still he kept to the centre of the road, staking all on his own speed He might have kept this uP until he dropped, had I wished t.0 continue the •chase, However, h15 release came when the road ar' rived at a cross-roads. There he was able to obey his urge to staY in the open and at the same dine to make a prudent shift in direction. When I in turn came up t° the cross-roads I saw him loping along the road which led to the left, still choosing a clear course between the hedges. Luckily far him I wished to go straight ahead. As we separated I felt Ihad been taking part in some kind 0! deliberate contest. The hare coule have avoided it easily enough: he chose not to, and it does not seen1 entirely adequate to put this doW,0 solely to his instinctive trust in ins own speed. If that were the case. how then to explain the strange behaviour of hares at airports? ., George Ewart Evans and Davin Thomson go into this phenorne non in their learned book, The Leaping Hare. It is well icnoWn that hares like airports and often congregate there in large nurn* bet-s. But no one knows why — or why, being there, they so often choose to run wild races with the aircraft moving over the ground, Scores of hares at a time have often been seen coursing crazilY beside an aeroplane as it thunders down the runway. The spectacle has been reported from airports In many countries.
There seems nothing to explain it other than the sheer joy O(, race. Speed is life to the hare. It IS not altogether strange, perhaps' that sometimes it should glory 01 its powers, and pit them againSt those of the fastest machines.
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