136 



THE MUSEUM. 



katchewan,and ranges eastward toLake 

 Winnipeg, Lanesboro, Minnesota and 

 central Iowa. On the south it is not 

 found on the plains much below cen- 

 tral Kansas and southern Colorado, 

 Fort Riley and Pendenni:^, Kans , and 

 Las Animas, Colo., being near its 

 southern limits. On the Rocky Moun- 

 tain Plateau, however, it goes a little 

 further south and has been taken at 

 Ft. Garland, Colo , and at Kanao, 

 Utah The Sierra Nevada and Cas- 

 cade Range mark the limits of its west- 

 ern distribution, but it occurs in the 

 Sierra, as far south as Hope Valley. 

 Although called the Prairie Hare it 

 ranges high up in the mountains, at 

 least in summer, higher than any other 

 Jack Rabbit. 



In August, 1 89 1, I saw a large rab- 

 bit belonging to his species, at an alti- 

 tude of about 10,000 feet in the Sierra 

 Nevada, about 20 miles south of Mt. 

 Whitney. Signs of their presence 

 have been found in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains far above timber line and nearly 

 to the summits of the higher peaks. 

 It is hardly probable that Jack Rabbits 

 spend the winter at such altitudes, but 

 the upper limit of their winter range 

 remains to be determined. Abundant 

 food in the mountain meadows and 

 above timber line probably tempts 

 them to ascend from lower levels in 

 summer, just as cultivated fields on 

 the plains attract them from a dis- 

 tance. 



In the mountains and in the north- 

 ern part of their range they become 

 pure white in winter, but in Kansas, 

 Neb., Washington and elsewhere near 

 the southern limit of their habitat they 

 undergo only a partial change, or do 

 not turn white at all. In southern 

 Oregon the rabbits inhabiting the 

 higher mountains are said to turn white 

 in winter, while a little lower down 

 they undergo only a partial change 

 and in the valleys do not assume the 

 white pelage. 



Opinions seem to differ as to the 

 abundance of the Prairie Hare. Dr. 

 A. K. Fisher has seen as many as 20 



together near Colby, Kan., and farther 

 north it is killed in large quantities for 

 market. A commission house in St. 

 Paul, Minnesota, reports having hand- 

 led 12,000 Jack Rabbits during the 

 winter of 1894-5, most of which came 

 from North and South Dakota, where 

 this is the only species. Several thous- 

 and are estimated to have been killed 

 in Codington County, S. D., alone, 

 during the same season. Certainly it 

 must be tolerably abundant in these 

 states to be obtained in such num- 

 bers. 



The fur of the Prairie Hare is long 

 and silky, and exactly the color of the 

 sand and the dead leaves under the 

 bushes, where they make their ' 'forms. " 

 Unless they move, it is impossible to 

 distinguish them, although looking 

 down on their backs. But when once 

 started they are off in an instant, and 

 their characteristic actions at such 

 times are thus described by Dr. Coues: 



"The extraordinary agility of this 

 animal, which would be inferred from 

 inspection of its lithe yet muscular and 

 free-limbed shape, has always attract- 

 ed attention. The first sign one has 

 usually of a hare which has squatted 

 low in hopes of concealment, till its 

 fears force it to fly, is a great bound 

 into the air, with lengthened body and 

 erect ears. The instant it touches the 

 ground it is up again, with a peculiar 

 springy jerk, more like the rebound- 

 ing of an elastic ball than the result of 

 muscular exertion. It does not come 

 fairly down, and gather itself for the 

 next spring, but seems to hold its legs 

 stiffly extended, to touch only its toes, 

 and rebound by the force of its impact. 

 The action is strikingly suggestive of 

 the "bucking" of a mule, an affair 

 with which people of the west are only 

 too familiar. With a succession of 

 these high jerky leaps the animal makes 

 off generally in a straight course; there 

 is nothing of the dodging or scuttling 

 about, that marks the running of the 

 smaller rabbits. As it gains on its 

 pursuers, and its ears subsides, the 

 springs grow weaker, just as a flat 



