98 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA [No. 55 



whites as food. The Indians kill them with arrows and in winter 

 take them with nets, several hundred in a day. 



General habits. These are primarily rabbits of the grassy plains 

 where they crouch, well concealed, in shallow, scooped-out forms 

 under tufts of grass or in the shadows of weeds or low bushes, and 

 only when almost stepped on burst from cover with a startling flash 

 of white and striking colors that might well cause a momentary hesi- 

 tation in a hungry coyote while the rabbit is getting safely under 

 way. It certainly gives the hunter somewhat the same thrill as a 

 white-tailed deer bounding from cover, or the prairie chicken burst- 

 ing from the grass, and the first glance makes the rabbit seem twice 

 its real size. With their puffy white tails and the white and black 

 backs of their erect ears showing as they bound high and far, they 

 are as remarkable for their conspicuous appearance as they are for 

 their baffling invisibility when crouched with tails and ears down, 

 and eyes half shut. Their speed is apparently about the same as that 

 of the black-tailed jacks, and usually permits them to escape from 

 all native enemies in a fair race, though not from the greyhound nor 

 from the strategy of relay or pack hunting, nor from the attack of 

 some of the larger winged hunters. The writer has measured their 

 tracks in soft snow and found them clearing from 4 feet to 17 feet 

 10 inches, the longest leaps always following 2 or 3 shorter hops. 



They have little power of defense except concealment or flight, 

 but when wounded and captured alive, they will kick and strike 

 fiercely with the straight, sharp claws of the hind feet, inflicting 

 long, deep gashes in the hands of a careless hunter. When wounded 

 or captured they sometimes utter a shrill scream of pain or terror, 

 but otherwise seem to our coarse ears to have no voice. 



They are active at all seasons of the year and with their dense 

 coats of pure-white fur are able to withstand the coldest of weather 

 and deep snows. ^ They burrow deep in the snowdrifts and dig long 

 tunnels from which they can escape at either end, and in which they 

 sit during the day, screened from the eagle eyes of enemies soaring 

 overhead. They have many enemies. The coyote and bobcat pounce 

 upon them unawares, or when soft snow puts them at a disadvantage, 

 and at times wolves hunt them systematically and successfully. 

 Eagles hunt them, and hawks and owls undoubtedly get many of 

 the young. 



Breeding habits. In this group of rabbits the mammae are in 4 

 pairs, arranged along the sides of the belly, on 2 long parallel mam- 

 mary glands. They are generally given as 1 pair of inguinal, 2 pairs 

 of abdominal, and 1 pair of pectoral. The young are usually 4 to 6 

 and at birth are surprisingly well developed, heavily furred, with 

 eyes open and incisors showing. They are nursed until about quarter 

 grown and able to shift for themselves. 



Food habits. In summer these rabbits nibble dainty grasses and 

 wild clovers and a great variety of tender green plants, but the 

 minute sections of grass stems in the large spheroidal pellets show 

 grass to form the bulk of their food. In winter they eat the buds, 

 twigs, and bark of bushes and young trees, and the increasing depths 

 of snow serve to lift them to higher levels and a fresh supply of food. 

 In times of scarcity the tips of sagebrush, rabbitbrush, and such 

 unpalatable browse are eaten, but only when the more acceptable 





