Seamus Heaney translated a short Middle English text written in the late 13th century called ‘The Names of the Hare’. The poem describes itself as the seventy-seven names you should say to a hare to avoid bad luck if you happen to come across one.
“The stubble-stag, the long lugs, the stook-deer, the frisky legs, the wild one, the skipper, the hug-the-ground, the lurker, the race-the-wind, the skiver, the shag-the-hare, the hedge-squatter, the dew-hammer, the dew-hopper, the sit-tight, the grass-bounder, the jig-foot, the earth-sitter, the light-foot, the fern-sitter, the kail-stag, the herb-cropper, the creep-along, the sitter-still, the pintail, the ring-the-hill, the sudden start, the shake-the-heart, the belly-white, the lambs-in-flight.”
This portfolio features the Irish hare Lepus timidus hibernicus which has become very rare. It is a priority species for conservation action and focus of a species plan.