312 Field Columbian Museum — Zoology, Vol. III. 



10 Specimens, Big Cottonwood Lakes, Mount Whitney. 



''Coneys were found fairly common at timber-line, or a little 

 above it, on the east slope of Old Mount Whitney, in the vicinity 

 of Big Cottonwood Lakes. They usually inhabited rock jams 

 or talus slopes in which the rocks were of large size; but thev 

 occasionally lived in the crevices of cliffs. The usual note is a 

 sharp 'quank' repeated three or four times rapidlv and resem- 

 bling closely that of the slender-billed nuthatch, but much more 

 penetrating. At dusk the coneys were especially noisy and 

 active, sounding their alarm notes without any provocation. 

 Their light ashy colors harmonize perfectly with the light gray 

 of the granite." 



FAM. LEPORID-/E. 



LEPUS. 

 Lepus campestris. 



Lepus campestris Bachm., Jour. Acad. Nat. Scien., Phil., 1837, 

 ]>. 34Q. Elliot, Syn. X. Am. Mamm., 1901, p. 277. 



1 Specimen, from Big Cottonwood Meadows. Mount Whitney. 



"This hare ranges on the high meadows and stony hillsides 

 in the vicinity of Mount Whitnev, from 8,000 to 13,000 feet. 

 Above timber-line their droppings were abundant on black, 

 gravelly hillsides, where their light coloration is protective. In 

 running, their movements consist of graceful stiff-legged leaps, 

 like those of deer, and are quite different from the long, rapid 

 leaps of the California jack rabbit." 



Silvilagus. 

 Lepus laticinctus. 



Lepus laticinctus Elliot. Pub. Field Columb. Mus., ill, 1903, 

 p. 254. Zoology. 



10 Specimens: 2 Fort Tejon, 3 Castac Lake, 4 Oro Grande, 

 1 Lone Pine. 



"An abundant species on the bottom lands of the Mohave 

 River near Oro Grande, where it occurs in willow thickets and 

 sage-brush. Farther down the river at Daggett a few were 

 seen near the river in beds of A triplex bushes. A cotton-tail 

 was seen several times in Morongo Valley, which appeared to lie 

 this form." Common in the vicinity of Fort Tejon. where it 

 ranges from the lower edge of the Chaparral Belt to the Black 

 Pine Belt on Mount Pinos. A young one was taken at 8,000 

 feet in the Sierras near Kern River. 



