Brown and Beyond

Write George Ewart Evans and David Thomson in The Leaping Hare:

The most common hare of England is called the brown hare . . . but ["brown" is a word that doesn't really] describe that mixture of grey, fawn, yellow, black and brown which distinguishes it from the even colour of a brown cow or horse. Its winter coat is reddish, though seldom as bright as the foxy russet red of the Irish hare. At a distance, especially on grassland, its summer coat looks darker than a rabbit's, and if you examine it closely which, unless you have a pet one, means examining it dead, you will see that in contrast to the mountain hare, its back is covered with tiny black specks – the black tips of its 'guard hairs' which are longer and coarser than the other hairs. Its chest and abdomen are almost white, also the sides of its face. The inside of its legs and the furry pads of its feet are usually the most beautiful yellowy-gold, often tinged with red. The only part that is pure brown or buff is on the nape of the neck smooth and hidden.


Image: Wayne and Adrian.