SAND DUNES AND SALT MARSHES 



Wlien the prairie-hare or western jack-rab- 

 bit was introduced in Ipswich I do not know, 

 but throughout the nineties and up to about 

 the year 1907 it was common in the dunes, and 

 its tracks were everywhere. In the last 

 named year it began to diminish in numbers, 

 and in 1909 it was no longer to be found in 

 its old haunts, and to-day is, I am afraid, en- 

 tirely extirpated. Whether this extirpation 

 was due to the foreign and unfavorable envi- 

 ronment, or to the fox, which has increased 

 considerably in numbers since 1907, is an open 

 question, although the jack-rabbit ought to be 

 able to escape the fox in a fair race. Seton 

 calls it '' the speediest wild four-foot left on 

 the Manitoban prairie to-day," and says it 

 can outrun the fox. The fox, however, does 

 not restrict himself to fair means and the open 

 chase in obtaining his prey, neither does he 

 decline the fat and tender young. 



When jack-rabbits were common, I could 

 almost always in a day's walk start one, and 

 I never ceased to be astonished by the crea- 

 ture that looked almost as large as a calf, as 

 it bounded off through the dunes. 



Both Coues and Seton describe this starting 

 up and bounding away of the jack-rabbit so 



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