170 Merriam A New Rabbit from Mexico. 



socks, and passing from one to another under the shelter of the 

 outcurving masses of leaves. It was evident that the rabbits 

 were very numerous here, and we all proceeded to hunt the 

 vicinity carefully for them. The first day I saw three, but was 

 unable to get a shot at any. One came running through the 

 grass along one of the hidden trails and, seeing me, stopped in 

 a little opening only seven or eight feet away. It was too near 

 to shoot, and so escaped after looking at me with inquiring eyes 

 for a few moments. The next evening I shot one by taking a 

 stand on a large log, whence I could see several small openings 

 in the grass, and saw one as it stopped a moment at the en 

 trance of a runway. By persistent hunting for three days my 

 Indians secured three more. 



" On our first night wire snares were set without success, so 

 the next night we put out a lot of steel traps in the runways. 

 This latter method was very successful, and three fine specimens 

 were taken in a small area a few yards across. So far as ob 

 served, these animals are strictly limited to the heavy growth of 

 saccaton grass, between about 3,050 and 3,650 meters (10,000 

 and 12,000 feet), a few ranging a little above and below these 

 limits in favorable places along canon slopes. I found them 

 equally numerous in the heavy grass on canon slopes and hill 

 sides and in the dense growth of grass about the sides of the 

 small park-like openings in the forest. They make their forms 

 within the matted bases of the huge grass tussocks by tunnel 

 ing passageways along the surface of the ground through the 

 mass of old grass leaves and stems and then hollowing out snug 

 retreats within the weather-proof shelters thus obtained. Their 

 concealed runways were intermingled with those of the common 

 meadow mice of the mountains, and the striking resemblance in 

 coloration and habits between the two animals was remarkable. 

 Like the arvicolas, the rabbits are mainly nocturnal, but are 

 occasionally found moving about by day. They become more 

 active just at dusk, and on frosty mornings sometimes come out 

 at sunrise into the small openings among the grass to bask in 

 the warmth. My Indian hunters claimed that they often found 

 them out sunning themselves in this way on summer afternoons 

 after cold, heavy showers. 



" This species has practically no external tail, though in some 

 specimens there is a small fleshy papilla two or three millimeters 

 in length ; in others even this is absent. In this respect the 

 animal resembles the pikas (Lagomys}." 



