THE COMMON OR BROWN HARE 253 



as explained below ; ma/kin, of Scotland and North Yorkshire, from 

 maldkin or maudkin = " little Maud," a familiar cat-name transferred 

 to the hare (cf. grimalkin, a cat = " grey malkin," of some parts 

 of Scotland, and of Northumberland and Cumberland), appears also 

 as maukin or mawkin ; mally, of Durham ; mapsie, a pet or young 

 hare {Dial. Diet.), see Rabbit ; old aunt, of Norfolk, as in Emerson's 

 Birds, Beasts, and Fishes of the Norfolk Broadland, 1895, 325 ; old 

 Sarah, of Suffolk (compare Sarah of Yorkshire) ; puss, a quite general 

 term, as in Cowper's well-known poem; sent, see Rabbit; wat or 

 watty, corrupted from Walt= Walter, an old familiar name, still in 

 use locally, and of some antiquity, compare Shakespeare's 



" And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare, 



Mark the poor wretch 



By this, poor Wat, far off upon a hill 

 Stands on his hinder legs with listening ear" 



( Venus and Adonis) ; 



whiddie and whiddy, of Aberdeen, Banff, Orkney, and Shetland, the 

 sense of which is "nimble," as in Taylor's Poems, 1787, 91 — 



" Rob then to her did hunt his dogs . . . 

 But Whiddie wi' her cockit lugs, 

 Said, ' Kiss your luckie.' " 



In old sporting books " the Hare is a Leveret in the first year, a 

 Hare in the second, and a great Hare {cf "great cony," above, p. 189) 

 in the third" (Daniel, Rural Sports, 1801, i., 260); of these terms, 

 leveret is from Old French levret, diminutive of Old French levre, 

 modern French lievre — from Latin lepus, genitive leporis = " a hare." 



Besides those mentioned above, a surprising number of fanciful 

 names were bestowed on the animal by Anglo-Norman sportsmen, 

 amongst whom there must almost have been a cult or worship of it ; 

 see above, p. 246, etc., under genus Lepus ; many of these may be found 

 in Wright and Halliwell's Reliquice Antique, and I have reprinted 

 them {Zoologist, 1911,25-26). Westropp informs me that a somewhat 

 similar set of fanciful appellations existed in the Irish language, and 

 they may possibly have been derived from the Normans also. 



Amongst the old sporting terms, " meuse," " muse," or " smeuse " is 

 still retained in many districts to indicate the openings or passages by 

 which a hare is accustomed to pass through a hedge, and is also used 

 sometimes to signify her " form." It is from the Old French musse = il a 

 little hole" or "corner to hide things in," from musser=to hide, and was 

 also applied in connection with other animals, such as the wild boar. 

 The word "muset" was used in the same sense by Shakespeare in 

 Venus and Adonis, in connection with a hunted hare — 



"The many musits through the which he goes 

 Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes." 

 VOL. II. R 2 



