124 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



fifty pounds, considerably greater than that of the deer or do- 

 mesticated sheep. The color is white beneath, grayish brown 

 elsewhere. The horns of the ram are very large, sometimes 

 five inches through at the base and three feet long. The 

 horns, after starting upward, turn backward, then downward, 

 and so round with a circular or spiral shape, the tip inclining 

 outward. Mountaineers assert that these horns are used by 

 the sheep in getting down from the high cliffs which he is fond 

 of frequenting. Instead of clambering down toilsomely over 

 the rugged and broken rocks, he makes an easy job of it by 

 leaping headlong, confidently down, over precipices fifty, yes, 

 one hundred feet high, and alights head first on his horns, 

 which are strong enough to be unbroken by the shock, and 

 elastic enough to throw him ten or fifteen feet into the air — 

 and the next time he alights on his feet all right. 



§ 94. The Hare Family. — The Californian hare, or "jackass 

 rabbit," as it is commonly called [Lepus callfornicus)^ is one 

 of the largest of its class, growing sometimes to be two feet 

 long from the nose to the end of the tail. Its ears are very 

 large, and have suggested the vulgar name. It was once 

 abundant in all the valleys from the Klamath to the Colorado ; 

 it is more rare now. The color beneath is a pale cinnamon ; 

 above it is mixed black and light cinnamon, the longest hairs 

 being of a light smoky-ash color for about half the length, 

 then dark sooty-brown, then pale cinnamon-red, and finally 

 black at the tip. 



The prairie hare {Lepus campestris) also, one of the largest 

 hares, inhabits the plateau of the Sierra Nevada, Pit River 

 valley, and the country about the Klamath lakes. It is all 

 w^hite in winter ; in summer yellowish gray, with brownish 

 tinges above and white beneath. The length, from the tip of 

 the nose to the root of the tail, is from seventeen to twenty- 

 three inches ; and the tail and ear each measure about four 

 inches. 



Audubon's hare [Lepus audabonil) inhabits the coast val- 

 leys from Petaluma to San Diego. It is fifteen inches long, 



