192 



Order LAGOMORPHA 



Fig. 104. — White-tailed jackrabbit in winter pelage. 



it can usually outrun its enemies. Many a dog has pursued a 

 white-tailed jackrabbit only to become exhausted while the hare 

 was still fresh and several hundred feet in the lead. 



This animal rests in forms, which are body-sized depressions 

 either in thick vegetation or in soft soil. Usually it feeds on 

 grasses, clovers, and other herbs, and on grains. In winter, it 

 may be forced to feed on buds, bark, and twigs of woody 

 plants. 



The white-tailed jackrabbit is really a hare and not a true 

 rabbit. Its precocious young are fully furred and have their 

 eyes wide open at the time of birth. Probably it breeds in April, 

 and young, three to six in a litter, are born in June. The young 

 may nibble on grasses when only a few days old and in less than 

 5 or 6 weeks are ready to shift for themselves. 



Signs. — Prints left by the hind feet of a jackrabbit, fig. \6c, 

 are much larger than those of the cottontail, the length of one 

 print varying from 4 to 614 inches as compared with 4 inches 

 or less for that of the cottontail. The tracks of the front feet 

 are also correspondingly larger than those of the cottontail. The 

 patterns of the tracks of the two animals are much alike. The 

 long prints of the hind feet lie approximately side by side and 



