182 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1896. 



him take a hollow tree, seeming generally not to resort to such a 

 refuge in the day. The young are born with eyes closed and with- 

 out hair, and fewer in number than the cottontail.^ I have only 

 seen one nest, that in an old root. The Swamp Rabbit has fully 

 held his own iu numbers in my day, though nothing more, and I 

 see about one specimen a day when hunting in our deepest bottoms. 

 The largest specimen I ever weighed was thirteen pounds, and 

 would say thirteen inches at the shoulders. Negroes think him 

 good eating, and if properly prepared, I agree with them." 



In another letter Mr. Miles again refers to this hare, as follows : 

 " As to the aquatic habits of the Swamp Rabbit, they are very pro- 

 nounced and he will take to water as readily as the raccoon. I 

 have seen him when not pursued swim a slough 30 yards wide and 

 shake himself when on the other side, hopping ofi' as though it was 

 all right >i< * * * I saw one swim several hundred yards 

 down and across current when pursued by my pointer, and the dog 

 did not gain on him, but was the most exhausted of the two 

 when he gave up the chase. The rabbit makes the 'dog lick' 

 when in the water, the rump rising and falling as in the swim- 

 ming horse." 



Specimen — Samburg, 1. 



6. Lepus sylvaticus Bachm. Wood Hare. 



In western Tennessee, especially in the woods and thickets skirting 

 the cane-bottoms near the Mississippi, this hare has almost become 

 a nuisance on account of its abundance. Near Brownsville, Mr. 

 Miles declares the " Cotton-tail is nearly a pest with us, and since 20 

 years has increased fully 50 per cent, in my opinion, and this in 

 spite of the fact that its young are destroyed by nearly everybody 

 and thing. * >K * During February last [1895] I could num- 

 ber 100 parties who killed in a single day's hunt 100 each, and 

 the same ratio was kept up during the month ; this too at the 

 time of breeding, but there are apparently as many as ever and in 

 the corporation of Brownsville, they eat up a large per cent of 

 the gardens." 



At Reelfoot Lake I found them very abundant, their range in the 

 lowlands overlapping that of the Water Hare. In the uplands I 

 rarely met with them. None were obtained in Middle Tennessee or 



^ Mr. Miles contrasts this condition of tlie young at birth with that of 

 Lepus syhiaHcus, which he states are brought forth "with eyes open and fully 

 haired." 



