664 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



have been supplied me by Percy H. Selwyn, of Ottawa, Ont. 

 The first Jack-rabbit he ever saw in Manitoba was at Elliot 

 Settlement, i8 miles south-east of Brandon, on May 25, 1885. 

 He fired at it, it fell dead, and he was sorry to see that it was a 

 female evidently within a few hours of becoming a mother, 

 for there was something moving in her body. On performing 

 the Caesarian operation he found 3 young, one dead from a shot, 

 the other 2 very active and with eyes open. When set on the 

 ground they ran about so quickly as to be hard to catch. He 

 took them home and raised them by spoon-feeding From 

 the first they were perfectly tame and became the most playful 

 Rabbits he ever saw, leaping high in the air and turning so as 

 to alight facing the other way. When 3I months old, and 

 about half-grown, they were killed by accident. 



Similarly, A. S. Barton, after much experience among the 

 Hares in Southern Manitoba, writes me: "The young ones 

 make good pets, they are so easy to raise on milk, and soon 

 learn to drink out of a saucer." 



In July, that is, when five or six weeks old, the young are 

 big enough to shift for themselves. 



Many observers beheve that in Manitoba this Hare has 

 2 litters each year. Dr. Coues thought i litter a year was all 

 it reared in Montana. 



In the Yakima Valley (Wash.) the farmers assured me 

 that the Whitetails breed every month of the year except 

 February; this I interpret to mean that young ones are con- 

 tinually seen, except in the depth of winter, which would show 

 at best that 2 or perhaps 3 broods are reared each year 

 in the warmer regions of the Whitetails' range. But in the 

 latitude of Manitoba I believe i brood each season to be the 

 rule. 



HABITS Who can adequately describe the wonderful thrill of de- 



light — half animal, half poetic — that comes when first he sees 

 a wild Deer bound away from his path ? The old, old thrill, 

 that dates from times when finding that Deer was a matter of 

 life or death. This same vivific shock I never cease to get each 



