INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. 



149 



In the timber we get the Northern or varying hare, Lepus amer- 

 icanus, sometimes called "Timber Rabbit," which is not especially 

 injurious, since it finds plenty of food close at hand, though fruit 

 trees near the woods sometimes suffer. The bark of the cotton- 

 wood appears to be especially palatable to this hare. Brownish in 

 summer time, it turns white in winter, though the hairs are lead 

 colored at base, and a band of brown is maintained down the 

 middle of the back. 



Fig. 143. — "Cotton-tail," L. sylvaticxis, Bachman. A. G. Kuggles. 



Finally we get our little Cotton-tail or Gray Hare, Lcpus nutalli 

 sylvestris, which is common everywhere in the localities favored 

 with a little brush or timber. It is the most destructive of all the 

 hares, in winter time not hesitating to girdle fruit trees, oftentimes 

 gnawing ofif the tops of nursery trees which project above the 

 drifted snow. Deep snows or drifted snows make the so-called 

 "rabbit-proof" fence useless. In the summer time it occasionally 

 troubles gardens. This species does not turn white in winter. 



The family of hares, Leporidce, differs particularly from the other 

 families of the order Rodentia by the possession of two small extra 



