Snowshoe-rabbit 645 



toba, writes:'' "On the sides of the Hne [C. P. R.], as it runs 

 through the wooded country between Portage la Prairie and 

 Carberry, a distance of about 50 miles, the dead bodies of 

 the Rabbits lay literally in hundreds, if not thousands. In 

 some spots several bodies were to be seen lying near one 

 another, and over considerable distances a fluffy White- 

 rabbit's body might be seen every few yards, as the train rushed 

 along, lying on the edge of or close to the line." 



Just so great as were the numbers was the destruction by the 

 the plague. It seemed to have taken them all. The summer 

 and fall of 1892 I spent in the same region and did not see a 

 single Snowshoe. I have heard of one or two areas in eastern 

 Manitoba where a temporary abundance of Rabbits has been 

 observed since then, but never in the Province has there been 

 another such a Rabbit year as 1886. 



The next question is one brought forward by Miller 

 Christy in the article referred to: *' Why cannot we find in this 

 disease a means of combating the Rabbit-pest in Australia ?" 

 Is it not possible that Science may discover a mighty weapon in 

 the virus of the stricken White-hare. The difficulty hitherto 

 has been to bring together disease and pathologist. But an 

 unexpected chance has recently brought about this desirable 

 conjunction. 



I had stocked the park about my home with Rabbits — 

 Jacks from Kansas, Snowshoes from New Hampshire, local 

 Cottontails, Prairie-hares from Manitoba. They were in 

 abundance. I could see a dozen Rabbits at least every day, 

 when, late in summer of 1903, they began to die, and, in a few 

 weeks, all were gone. The plague had come, and it swept them 

 away. Those found dead appeared to have had their throats 

 cut, but were too far decomposed to be properly examined. All 

 perished but three or four which seemed very sickly. In the 

 fall of 1904 I at last secured a freshly dead one with its "throat 

 cut" as before. This was shipped to Dr. Seelye Litde, of 

 Rochester, N. Y., who thus reported: 



'* Exterm. of the Rabbit in Australia, Zoologist., Nov., 1892, p. 383. 



