FIELD BOOK OF MAMMALS 



of these forms meets severe winter conditions, white winter 

 pelages are assumed. The tail is nearly always white. 



Western White-tailed Jack Rabbit. — Lepus townsendii town- 

 sendii Bachman. 

 Resembling campaniiis in summer pelage, but lacking the 

 buffy suffusion on upperparts. Smaller in size and with 

 less black on ears. Winter pelage, when white, as in 

 campanius, or becoming pale creamy or buffy gray. Total 

 length, 23 inches; tail vertebras, 3.2 inches; hind foot, 6 

 inches; ear from notch, 4.2 inches. Found in "Great Basin 

 region, including east slopes of Cascade Range, and thence 

 east to Rocky Mountains, occupying eastern Washington 

 and Oregon, and north to Fairview, in Okanogan Valley, 

 British Columbia; and from the northeastern comer of 

 California easterly through northern Nevada, western and 

 southern Idaho, extreme southwestern Wyoming, most of 

 Utah, and Colorado from western border to summit of 

 Rocky Mountains. Vertical range, from about 1,000 feet 

 in eastern Washington to 12,000 feet in Colorado; zonal 

 range mainly Upper Sonoran and Transition, but reaches 

 up to Hudsonian in the mountains of Colorado." (Nelson) 



White-tailed Jack Rabbit. — Lepus townsendii campanius Hol- 

 lister. Plate XXXVI. 

 Size large, body heavy, ears large, tail long and white 

 throughout the year. Total length, 24 inches; tail vertebrae, 

 3.6 inches; hind foot, 6 inches; ear from notch, 3.8 inches. 

 Color above (summer), practically a uniform buffy gray 

 with yellowish suffusion; nape buffy to grayish; tail com- 

 pletely white, sometimes with a faint dusky median line 

 above; legs much like back; tops of hind feet whitish ; under- 

 parts white, except for throat which is gray with buffy wash ; 

 ears brownish, washed with buffy or gray, black-tipped and 

 with white on posterior half. Winter pelage, in northern 

 part of range, pure white except for black tips to ears and 

 irregular buffy patches on top side of forefeet, nose, and 

 about eyes; dark rusty area about front and inside of ears; 

 underfur of upperparts usually reddish brown. Where 

 winter change of pelage does not occur the coat is much as 

 in summer, except paler in tone. Found in "Great Plains 

 of Saskatchewan in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, 

 Canada, and thence south on plains of the United States, 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, over Montana, Wyoming 

 (except extreme southwestern part), the Dakotas, Minne- 

 sota to extreme southeastern comer (Lanesboro), Iowa east 

 to the Mississippi River (Muscatine), Nebraska, northern 

 half of Kansas, Colorado east of summit of the Rocky 

 Mountains, and middle northern border of New Mexico. 

 Vertical range from less than i ,000 feet in Iowa up to at 

 least 10,000 feet on the mountains of Colorado; zonal range, 

 mainly Upper Sonoran and Transition on the plains of the 



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