154 



THE MUSEUM. 



Rio Grande Jack Rabbit. 



{Lepus merriami M earns.) 



The Rio Grand Jack Rabbit is most 

 closely related to the Mexican Jack 

 Rabbit {Li'pus cal/otis), but differs 

 from it in having shorter ears, tipped 

 with black instead of white, and the 

 upper surface of the body grayish fawn 

 instead of ochraceous buff. The type 

 specimen of Lepus tnerriaiiii is de- 

 scribed as grayish fawn mixed with 

 black above, and with white under fur; 

 nape, base, and tips of ears posteriorly 

 jet black; fringes of the ear white on 

 posterior border, clayey white along 

 anterior border, and black at tip; up- 

 per side of the tail and middle of the 

 rump black; outer sides of legs and 

 haunches grayish white, thickly lined 

 with black hairs. Except a clay-col- 

 ored patch on the throat, the entire 

 undersurface of the body, including 

 the inner sides of legs, is pure white. 

 Length about 22^ inches, tail 3 inches 

 and ears 5J inches. This rabbit has 

 often been referred to by authors un- 

 der the names Lepus eallotis and L. 

 texianus, but has only recently been 

 described as a distinct species by Dr. 

 E. A. Mearns from a specimen taken 

 at Fort Clark, Kinney county, Tex., 

 April 6, 1893. The Rio Grande Jack 

 Rabbit can be readily distinguished 

 from the other black-tailed jack rab- 

 bits which occur in Texas {Lepus niel- 

 anotis in the north and L^epus texiamis 

 griseus in the west) by the black 

 patches at the base of the ears and on 

 the nape. 



This is the common jack rabbit of 

 southern Texas, being found along the 

 lower gulf coast and up the Rio Grande 

 as far as the mouth of Devils River. 

 It was reported by Dr. Mearns as ex- 

 tremely abundant near the mouth of 

 Devils River, and Mr. H. P. Attwater 

 states that it is common on the gulf 

 coast in Arkansas county, where it does 

 considerable damage. 



The Kingbirds ot Southern Cali- 

 fornia. 



Tyrannns verticalis. Say. 



Tyr annus vociferans, SwAlNSdN. 



Although Mother Nature in her dis- 

 tribution of species may have slighted 

 us in the matter of more numbers in 

 the genus Tyraiinus, still she has 

 more than made up for it by the cun- 

 ning and courage with which she has 

 endowed our representatives. For if 

 there is any bird more crafty in his 

 encounters with men and more cour- 

 ageous among his avian neighbors than 

 is the Arkansas Kingbird, I for one 

 would like to hear about him. 



This species, /'. vertiealis, is said 

 to occur east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 while it is also claimed that the King- 

 bird or "Bee Martin" (7". tyrannus) 

 of the eastern states has been taken 

 in California, but in as much as I 

 have had no experience on either of 

 these two points, I will refrain from 

 discussing them. The Arkansas King- 

 bird occurs throughout Orange county, 

 breeding in nearly every tree indigen- 

 ous to this region from the scrubby 

 "box elder" to the lofty eucalyptus. 

 I have, however, noted that the higher 

 the tree in which the nest is placed 

 the closer the nest is to the main 

 trunk. Especially do I remember a 

 set which I took from a tall locust 

 tree about two hundred feet from a 

 farm house. There was a space of 

 about twenty feet on this tree which 

 was as bare as the proverbial "greased 

 pole." I had no climbers but I got 

 there just the same, and took the five 

 fresh eggs which the nest contained. 

 This is a large set, in fact the largest 

 I ever took from this species, I believe. 

 Four is the usual number while sets of 

 two and three are common. When I 

 went up this tree I realised that there 

 was such a thing as a locust "thorn," 

 but when I came down! It seemed 

 as if there was a thorn for every 

 square inch of that tree trunk. 



The nest of this bird almost invar- 

 iably contains peices of string, bits of 



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