Its good to hear news of hares in the wild, for in a part of Meath where, not so many years ago, at mating time, you might see 10 or a dozen across the river while you were fishing, now even an individual hare is news, in spite of many signs saying "No Hunting Dogs Here" and words to that effect. They exist elsewhere, says a correspondent, who recently came across a pair in Co Mayo. On an idle weekend this couple went to an old country house to which are attached two walled gardens, now being farmed organically. Approaching the entrance gate to the gardens through a bluebell wood, they distributed a pair of hares who responded by entering the gardens and making a circuit of the inner walls. Initially amused by this, our two visitors began to realise that the hares were alarmed and, to avoid distress, they hid themselves. Rather than escaping by the entrance through which they had come, one of the hares tried to jump the perimeter wall, eight or nine times; it could leap vertically about six feet as though on springs - not unexpectedly in a creature with such ample rear legs.
Are there any records of hares' ability to jump vertically such a height as was demanded? We know how they can leap ditches and streams, though sometimes they prefer to swim, even swimming salt water to nibble some grass and herbs on a small islet. But no; these hares did not succeed in the great escape by leaping, but eventually exited by the way in which they had entered. And, incidentally, they didn't get any of the organic produce, which was guarded by a trusty sheepdog. But this drew a reminder of something in The Experienced Huntsman by Arthur Stringer, first published in 1714 and more recently by Blackstaff. Stringer was a huntsman to Viscount Conway's estates at Portmore on Lough Neagh, and in his book ascribed to some authors on hunting the fact that, when pursued, hares may run along the top of a hedgerow and even climb a stone wall six feet from the ground.
Anyone ever see a hare climb a wall? On the other hand, Stringer thinks that if a hare were so crafty, hounds would never be able to kill her "by fair hunting" - i.e. by men on horses, with hounds. The hare he describes as "the most noble little creature for gentlemen's sport"! Y