64 ZOOLOGY. 



In the open country of California, either in the meadow-like plains of the valleys, or in the 

 low hills sprinkled with oaks and clumps of " greasewood," this beautiful hare, familiarly 

 known as the "jackass rabbit," is exceedingly common. In favorite localities, some miles from 

 the "ranchos," in the Sacramento valley, I have sometimes seen a half dozen of them, in the 

 morning, sporting together. Like most hares and rabbits, however, it is for the most part noc- 

 turnal in its habits, and is not often seen during tbe heat of the day, unless driven from its 

 form by some alarm. It has received its common name from the enormous size of its ears, 

 which, in some individuals that I have seen, were full seven inches in length, a size which seems 

 ludicrously disproportionate, and when the animal runs is sure to excite laughter in one who sees 

 it for the first time. As might be inferred from this immense auditory apparatus, the Califor- 

 nian hare is exceedingly timid; and were it not that he is also particularly stupid, his long ears 

 and long legs would generally keep him out of the range of the sportsman's gun. As it is, 

 they are killed in great numbers, and the markets of the towns are, at the proper season, well 

 supplied with them. When fat, they are excellent eating, fully equal to any of the leporine 

 quadrupeds. 



While we were encamped at Fort Eeading, California, these hares were quite numerous on the 

 prairie near the post, and it was a favorite amusement with the members of our party to hunt 

 them. On a surface nearly without cover it would seem hopeless to attempt to shoot animals so 

 shy and fleet, but, fortunately, when alarmed, they were nearly as likely to run towards the 

 hunter as from him, and so were sometimes killed. 



The prevailing colors of the Californian hare are a rich chestnut brown in winter, and a 

 lighter yellowish brown in summer, being nearly the same with those of the black-tailed deer 

 which inhabits the same territory, and, like that deer, too, its most conspicuous mark is a black 

 tail. It closely resembles the Texan hare (L. callotis) in size and color ; but it is quite certain 

 that the two species are distinct. 



Like the Columbian black-tailed deer, the Californian hare is confined to the westward of the 

 Cascade range and of the Sierra Nevada, inhabiting the valleys of California generally, and near 

 the coast being found as far north as the Oregon line. 



LEPUS ARTEMISIA, Bachman. 



Sage Rabbit. 



Lepia arlemisia, Bachman, J. A. N. Sc. Phila. VIII, i, 1839, 91.— Id. in Townsend's Narrative, 1839, 329. 



Waterhouse, Nat. Hist. Mamni. II, 1848, 126. 



Add. & Bach. N. Am. Quad. II, 1851, 272 ; pi. lxxxviii. 



Baikd, Gen. Rep. Mammals, 1857, 602. 

 Lepus artemisiacus, (Bach.) Wagner, Suppl. Schreber, IV, 1844, 114. 

 ?Lepus nidtalli, Bach. J. A. N. Sc. Phila. VII, 1837, 345 ; pi. xxii.— Ib. VIII, 1839, 79.— Ib. Townsend's Narr. 



g P . Cn. — Among tbe smallest of the American rabbits ; considerably less than L. sylvaticus. Ears about as long as the 

 head. Tail moderate. Hind feet longer than the head ; very densely padded. Fur soft and full. Above mixed black 

 and brownish white ; the black much developed posteriorly. Sides rather paler. Thighs and rump grey. Tail above like 

 the back. Back of the neck and fore legs rust color. Throat and sides of the neck with a tinge of pale rusty ; along the 

 edge of the abdomen this color concentrated almost into a lateral stripe ; paler than the back of the neck. Edge of the 

 ear whitish ; external and internal bands greyish brown. The internal face rusty at base, then hoary, as on the exterior, 

 for much of the surface. A narrow margin of black along the tip. Fur nowhere passing from the basal lead color to dark 

 brown without an intermediate bar of yellowish brown. 



The sage rabbit has, perhaps, the widest range of all the American species of the genus. 

 Throughout the open country between San Francisco and the Columbia river we found it the 



