226 ANIMAL LIFE IX THE YOSEMITE 



Sometimes certain areas on the body retain remnants of the brown color- 

 ation when the animal is in the white coat, and vice versa. 



These big rabbits seem generally to keep to open places where they can 

 see unobstructedly for long distances. Around Tuolumne Meadows, flat- 

 topped hills bearing moderately open stands of trees together with some 

 brush were often occupied. To this choice of habitat on the part of the 

 rabbits, and to their crepuscular or nocturnal forage habits, we must 

 attribute the general failure of interested persons to see more of them. 

 Probably the rabbit sees the approaching person from afar and either 

 makes off or else lies close in the shelter of rocks or bushes. In the few 

 cases where a member of our party did catch sight of a rabbit it was 

 usually from far off; the rabbit promptly went still farther away and was 

 soon lost to sight. Near the Sierra Club camp of 1915 at the soda springs 

 on Tuolumne Meadows one or two White-tailed Jack Rabbits were seen 

 repeatedly by members of the Sierra Club and on a couple of occasions 

 by some of our party. At this point the animals had evidently become 

 somewhat accustomed to the presence of people. 



On the Farrington ranch near Williams Butte one of our party stayed 

 out for over an hour, from dusk until after dark, on the evening of Sep- 

 tember 21, 1915, watching for White-tailed Jack Rabbits in a wild hay 

 meadow. One of the animals came into view at 6:35 p.m. It ran out 

 from some tall grass and willow brush into a place where the grass had 

 been cut, and there at some distance from the observer it sat bolt upright. 

 Walking quietly, the observer attempted to approach, but the rabbit 

 became frightened and started for another willow clump across the field. 

 It did not appear to hurry, but its easy run carried it out of sight in an 

 incredibly short time. 



On another occasion, at Walker Lake, September 13, 1915, a White- 

 tailed Jack Rabbit was come upon in a meadow. This was after 6 o 'clock, 

 in the late dusk of evening, and snow was gently falling. The rabbit, upon 

 being frightened, loped away in easy fashion, and disappeared among 

 the trees. We were told that in winters when the snow gets deep, the 

 "snowshoes" visit the haystacks of the Farrington ranch in numbers to 

 feed. They are then ambushed by the Indians, 



The young of the White-tailed Jack Rabbit are produced in the early 

 spring months, to judge from the data at hand. A half-grown animal 

 was seen at close range near Mono Mills on June 8, 1916, and another of 

 about the same stage of growth was shot on the Farrington ranch near 

 Williams Butte on June 25 the same year. The latter animal already 

 weighed 3% pounds (1.7 kilograms). 



