JACK BABBITS 



225 



Rabbit in the low plains country. For this reason among others exact 

 information on many points in the life history of the Sierra Hare is still 

 to be obtained. 



The main range of the White-tailed Jack Rabbit begins at Tuolumne 

 Meadows and Vogelsang Lake, where evidence of the species, in the way 

 of droppings scattered on open ground, was found by us to be fairly 

 abundant. An exceptional occurrence, 

 reported by Mr, Lawrence Souvelewski, 

 was that of a White-tailed Jack Rabbit 

 at the immediate east base of Half 

 Dome (altitude about 7500 feet). The 

 animal was seen there on numerous 

 occasions during the summer of 1919. 

 On none of the western peaks (such as 

 Mount Hoffmann, Mount Clark, or 

 Clouds Rest) did we find evidence of 

 the presence of this species; but along 

 the main crest of the 



Sierras, rabbits were found 

 to inhabit the gentler 

 slopes of all the higher 

 peaks such as Parsons 

 Peak, Mount Florence, 

 Mount Dana, and Warren 

 Mountain, even up to alti- 

 tudes of 12,000 feet. On 

 the east slope, White-tailed 

 Jack Rabbits were ob- 

 served at Walker Lake, 

 near Williams Butte, near 

 Mono Mills, and on the 

 slopes of Mono Craters. 



When fully adult, this species is half again the size of its black-tailed 

 relative. Compared with the latter its ears are slightly longer and pro- 

 portionately broader, its head is more massive (fig. 34), its pelage denser 

 and longer, and its tail longer and more fluffy in appearance; its feet 

 are always heavily clad in fur (whence the name "snowshoe rabbit"). 

 The white-tail has two regular molts each year. One in the fall changes 

 the color of the animal from the pale brown summer coat to the pure white 

 of winter. The second molt, in the spring, accomplishes a return to the 

 brown pelage. The feet and tail do not participate in this color change 

 but remain white all summer, save as discolored by contact with the ground. 



Fig. 34. Head of Sierra White-tailed Jack Bab- 

 bit, one-half natural size. Compare with fig. 33. 



