102 THE SAGE EABBIT. 



'plastron') being a brilliant yellow. I believe this 

 is the only species of freshwater turtle found in 

 the waters of British Columbia ; its adult size is 

 about nine inches in length, and eight in width. 



In ferreting out the turtle's eggs, I constantly 

 disturbed the beautiful little Sage Rabbit ; scarcely 

 ten inches in length, it looks more like a rat than 

 a rabbit, when scudding nimbly away amidst 

 the grass. The fur is light-grey, and very like 

 the sand and dry leaves amidst which it delights 

 to sit. The Wasco Indians call it Za-lak. 



I procured specimens of this rabbit at the Dalles, 

 Cow Creek, and Colville; its favourite haunts 

 are the narrow belts of scrub that fringe the 

 banks of streams, hiding in crevices or among the 

 debris at the base of a cliff, or, failing these places 

 of concealment, makes burrows in the sandbanks ; 

 it breeds early. I obtained a doe in March, heavy 

 with young, and am disposed to think this rabbit 

 is only found east of the Cascades. 



I found, in rambling over the sandy plain near 

 old Fort Walla-walla, numbers of flint imple- 

 ments, together with heaps of fragments. At some 

 remote period of time not easy to discover, the 

 Indians evidentlv made their arrow-heads and 



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other implements of flint at this place. The stone 

 of which they were made could not have been 



