MAMMALS OF THE REGION 65 



Keen eyes and ears and quick legs are the only defense 

 or protection of these timid little folk, but in spite of 

 rocks and burrows, the great numbers of their bones 

 found in the owl pellets in the cave show how exten- 

 sively they are preyed upon. Apparently more of 

 their bones occur under the owl nests than do those of 

 any other mammals, except possibly those of wood 

 rats, which are about equally abundant. On March 

 25, about half of a freshly killed cottontail was found 

 in the nest with three young of the great horned owl, 

 and the crops of the downy young about five days old 

 were bulging with the tender rabbit meat, picked off 

 and fed to them by the mother bird. 



Generally, the cottontails are healthy and good 

 eating. The half-grown young are especially delicious, 

 and there are usually plenty of them for camp meat 

 during the summer when other game is out of season. 

 To the aborigines they doubtless were an important 

 source of food supply. 



Long accustomed to desert conditions, these rabbits 

 are entirely independent of any supply of drinking 

 water, and get an abundance of moisture from their 

 green food. In winter there is always cactus to be 

 found, while many plants store moisture in under- 

 ground roots, bulbs, and tubers, always available to 

 such rodents as know where to find them. 



This little cottontail is one of the smallest of our 

 rabbits of this group, with rather prominent ears and 

 a short, puffy, turned up tail showing the white lower 

 surface. 



