Mad as a March Hare

March Madness: What is it? How do you know if you have it and where do you find help? from Highway 7 Online - March 1, 2008

One early spring day a couple of years ago, my partner and I walked to the far end of our experimental woodlot to observe the effects of the previous year's thinning.

From where I stood, I soon became aware of a thrashing sound from a copse of trees a distance away. The sound was growing closer.

"Shhhh!", I whispered. "Something is coming towards us".

Within a few moments, three Snowshoe Hares erupted from the woods and careened noisily through the dry undergrowth. They headed directly towards the clearing where we stood in frozen silence.

Once in the open, the three "March Hares" zigzagged around each other at breakneck speed with the largest of the three seeming to be pursuit of the two smaller ones. We surmised later, that it must have been a testosterone charged male in pursuit of two comely young females.

We do know that in spring, a 'young man's fancy turns to love', but these hares were totally mad. In a matter of seconds, they had arrived at our feet and raced completely around us in ever widening circles. One wild-eyed grey female grazed my leg as she tore past me and disappeared on the other side of the clearing.

"Mad as a March hare", I thought to myself. No rabbit in its right mind is that oblivious to the presence of humans. They were acting, well, hare-brained.

Mating season! Now I knew where the expression came from -- or did I?

The hare's reputation for erratic behaviour in the spring dates back to the 15th Century. Thomas More's 'the supplycacyon of soulys' written in 1529 refers to someone as being "As mad not as a march hare, but as a madde dogge."

Much later, in 1865, it was the English author Lewis Carroll who would give the phrase its most famous reference: "The March Hare ... as this is May, it won't be raving mad - at least not so mad as it was in March." - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Is March madness contagious? Could the bite of a rampant rabbit cause one to go beserk and charge around after their hapless mates? Hardly, but the phrase "crazy in love" does come to mind.

Carroll's babbling March Hare, of course was a companion to "The Mad Hatter", who seems to have suffered from his own strain of insanity and not one he 'caught' from his friend.

Apparently, hat makers in Victorian times often went mad from prolonged exposure to mercurious nitrate, used in curing felt. Victims of mercury poisoning developed tremors and twitching limbs known as 'hatters' shakes' and often suffered from distorted vision and confused speech. Advanced cases developed hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms. (www.straightdope.com)

In any case, the silly actions of the pair proved popular because they appear again in Carroll's second book, Alice Through the Looking Glass. Here, as the King's messengers, Hatta and Haigha, they are described thus:

"In that direction," the Cat said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Hatter: and in that direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad."

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be, said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

Now, it's entirely possible that you were drawn into this article because you thought "March Madness" was the screaming header of a local car dealer's latest sales gimmick. You can be forgiven; it's a common useage of the phrase today.

However, it's also possible that you too must be mad 'or you wouldn't have come here' either. As long winters drag on, many of us become 'bush wacked' from spending so many cold and blustery days indoors.

Be patient; the cure is close at hand. As soon as you can say 'jabberwocky', the sun will reappear, flowers will peek through the snow and robins will bob along on your lawn again. Then of course, you'll only need to seek a cure for 'spring fever'.
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