THE MUSEUM. 



'5' 



two or three hundred individuals had 

 gathered in the cypress trees along the 

 shores of the pond. 



Anhintja, Water Turkey {Aiifiingii 

 an/iinga\. This is another bird which 

 we may now add to the list of the<7r /- 

 fauna of North Carolina. It is a bird 

 of a tropical and subtropical America 

 and has been known to breed as far 

 north as South Carolina. 



In damming up a stream on the 

 Orton rice plantation in Brunswick 

 county, fifteen miles below Wilming- 

 ton, a pond was formed which extends 

 back into the woods among the higher 

 ridges for several miles. At the upper 

 end of one of these narrow tongues of 

 water is located a colony of some four 

 of five hundred pairs of Herons, which 

 each year assemble to breed in the cy- 

 press trees. 



While approaching this heronry on 

 the 7th of June an Anhinga was flushed 

 irom its nest in a small cypress tree 

 about ten feet above the water. It 

 flew rapidly away, but soon returned 

 and was secured a few minutes later 

 upon alighting near the nest. It prov- 

 ed to be a male in magnificent plum- 

 age. One other bird, also a male, 

 was seen in the neighborhood, but no 

 other nests were noticed. The nest 

 examined was a heavy structure of 

 sticks and twigs, lined with long gray 

 moss ' Tillandsia iisiinoiiis). It con- 

 tained four eggs well advanced in in- 

 cubation. In appearance they very 

 much resembled the eggs of the Cor- 

 morant, but are smaller, an average 

 egg measuring 1.15x135. In the 

 neighborhood of Lake Wacamaw and 

 the region south and east of there I 

 occasionally heard mention of this bird 

 from the inhabitants and do not doubt 

 but that in suitable localities through- 

 out the south-eastern part of North 

 Carolina the Anhinga is a frequent 

 summer resident. 



Notes on the Jack Rabbits of the 

 United States. 



fCompilcd from Dr. T. S Palmer's 

 report to the Biological survey 

 of the Department of Agri- 

 culture of the United 

 States, 1897. 



California Jack Rabbit, Lepus cali- 

 forniiiis. Gray. The California Hare 

 is one of the most easily recognized of 

 the Black-tailed Rabbits which in- 

 habit the United States. It is gray 

 above often tinged with brownish and 

 mixed with black; the lower surface of 

 the body and tail is- buff. From the 

 tip of the nose to the end of the tail 

 vertebrae it measures about 2i\ in- 

 ches. The ears vary from 5 to 6 in- 

 ches, while the tail is only about four 

 inches in length. The only other 

 species which is likely to become con- 

 fused with it is the Texan Jack Rab- 

 bit, which is also found west of the 

 Sierra Nevada, in the San Joaquin 

 Valley. Nowhere in the United 

 States and perhaps nowhere in the 

 world, except in Australia, are labbits 

 so abundant as in some parts of Cali- 

 fornia, but the published data respect- 

 ing the distribution of the several spe- 

 cies is a good illustration of how much 

 still remains to be learned about even 

 the commonest animals. The Cali- 

 fornia Jack Rabbit was described in 

 1837, the same year in which the 

 Prairie Hare was named, and the 

 Texan species was first made known 

 in 1848. Although all three of these 

 rabbits have been frequently collected 

 for nearly half a century, and all have 

 been known to occur in California, it 

 is only recently that the limits of their 

 ranges have been accurately deter- 

 mined. In speaking of the California 

 species, T. S. V'a'h Dyke says; "Few 

 animals are more graceful than this 

 Hare, whether skimming the plain be- 

 fore the outstretched greyhound or 

 aroused from its 'form' he dashes 

 away with high jumps, as if to take a 

 better view of the intruder, or stop- 

 ping and resting upon its hind legs, 



