130 RODENTS OF IOWA 



MINNESOTA VARYING HARE. VARYING HARE. 

 SNOW-SHOE RABBIT. 



LcpKs Aii^cricuHHs pli(icunot(is Allen. 



Lepus Amencanus pliaeonotus Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 

 XII, 11, March 4, 1899. 



Description. — Sum-mer: Color above brown and ochraceous buff 

 mixed with blackish; head and middle of back darkest; upper sur- 

 face of tail buffy or dusky g:ray, below white ; tops of fore feet 

 and fore legs ting-ed with rusty brown ; ears Ivordered with black, 

 the posterior half whitish with a broad black margin; inside of 

 ears grayish ; color below white except throat which is brownish ; 

 sometimes color of sides also encroaches on the white. Winter: 

 Pure white except tips of ears, which are ])ordered with black 

 and sometimes with brownish buff in front of them. During spring 

 and fall irregular markings of bi-own and white are evident when 

 the semi-annual change of pelage occurs. 



Measurements. — Total length, 18.00 inches ; tail vertebra, 1.50 

 inches; hind foot, 5.25 inches. 



Habits, Distribution, Etc. — This is an exceedingly variable form 

 which prefers wooded regions in which there is dense undergrowth. 

 The nest is a mass of dried grass lined with fur furnished by the 

 mother, and is usually concealed in weeds or tliickets. From two 

 to. four young are found in a litter ; they are haired and have the 

 eyes open when born. 



The food of this species is made up of grasses, leaves of various 

 shrubs, clover, and bark of young trees. In some places outside 

 of the state it causes considerable damage by eating the bark of 

 fruit trees and grape vines ; garden crops also are damaged to 

 some extent. While the animals usually feed at night they are 

 often seen during the daytime. 



The writer has no definite locality records for the varying hare 

 in Iowa, but it is included here on the evidence of Pellett and Van 

 Hyning in their "Annotated Catalogue of the Recent Mammals 

 of lowa"^^ in which the following information is given: "Mr. 

 Pellett has seen specimens taken in Iowa. ' ' 



It is stated also by residents and hunters in northwestern Iowa 

 that a rabbit different from the jack rabbit occurs there, and it 

 may be that this is the form to which reference is made. Hunters 



3=Van Hyning, T., and Pellett, Frank C, Proc. la. Acad. Sci., XVII, 212, 1910. 



