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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



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THE COTTONTAII. KAlJlilT S IKACK 



The large set of four tracks at the top gives 

 the maximum possible of detail, which is very 

 rarely seen. The lower figure at the right- 

 hand corner is a typical track (tt). At the 

 set marked "sitting" the tail mark is seen, and 

 in this only are the fore-feet tracks ahead of 

 the hind tracks. The cottontail has five toes on 

 the front feet, but only four ever show in the 

 track (see page 510). 



Sea the Eskimos killed only a few individuals. 

 They were siiy and watchful and the himters 

 sometimes followed one on snowshoes all day 

 over the tundra without securing it. In the 

 Iiigh North they appear to be more numerous 

 in places, judging from the number killed for 

 food by members of polar expeditions. Their 

 flesh is excellent, but a little dry. Their natu- 

 ral enemies include wolves, foxes, weasels, gyr- 

 falcons, and snowy owls, all of which share 

 their desolate haunts and join in destroying 

 them. 



The winter skins of arctic hares have a beau- 

 tiful snowy white pelage, which make warm 

 garments and sleeping robes for the North, but 

 are too delicate to withstand nnich service. 



THE COTTONTAIL RABBITS (Sylvi- 

 lagus floridanus and its relatives) 



{For illustration, sec page 510) 



North America has several species of hares, 

 but no typical representative of the European 

 rabbit. The American cottontails and their 

 near relatives, the brush rabbits and others, 

 combine characteristics of both the hares and 

 ralibits, but are most like the rabbits, of which 

 they appear to form aberrant groups. 



The cottontails are distinctly smaller than 

 most of the American hares and average from 

 two to three pounds in weight. They are 

 otherwise contrasted with the hares by their 

 short ears, proportionately shorter and smaller 

 legs and feet, and by the fluffy snow-white 

 underside of the tail, which shows so conspic- 

 uously as they run that it lias given them 

 their distinctive name. 



The American mammals to which the term 

 ■'rabbit" may be properly applied include not 

 only the cottontails, but numerous otiier species 

 closely similar in form and general appear- 

 ance, but lacking the cottony white tail. As a 

 group, these rabbits have a far greater distri- 

 inition in America than the hares. They range 

 from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific and from 

 the southern border of Canada south througii 

 Central and South America to Argentina. 

 Their vertical distribution extends from sea 

 level to above timberline, attaining an altitude 

 of more than 14,000 feet on Mount Orizaba, 

 Mexico. 



In the United States cottontails are so nu- 

 merous and generally distributed that tlicy are 

 well known to nearly every one. They inhabit 

 all kinds of country, from the deciduous for- 

 ests of the Eastern States to the grassy or 

 brush-grown plains and pine-clad mountain 

 slopes of the West and the sun-scorched des- 

 erts of the Southwest. As a result of this 

 extended distribution and the variety of con- 

 ditions in the areas occupied, these rabbits in- 

 clude numerous species and geographic races, 

 which in some instances difi^er greatly in ap- 

 pearance. 



Cottontails are especially conunon about the 

 brushy borders of cultivated lands throughout 

 the country, and in fertile brush-grown areas 

 of foothills, valleys, and river bottoms of the 



