100 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 



[No. 55 



until almost stepped on before bounding out and away in great 

 leaps with a startling display of legs and ears and, to anything but 

 a greyhound, a hopeless display of speed. Toward evening they 

 may be seen hopping about, nibbling at various green plants or loping 

 along to the nearest clover patch or grainfield for a choice supper, but 

 always alert with sensitive ears erect and constantly changing posi- 

 tion and bulging eyes keen for any approaching enemies. While 

 mainly nocturnal they are also active during the evening and morning 

 hours, and at any time of day if disturbed. They see well in bright 

 sunlight, as well as at night, the pupils of their eyes enlarging and 

 contracting to suit the light conditions. 



Breeding habits. The females have normally 6 mammae, 2 pairs 

 of abdominal and 1 pair of pectoral, arranged on 2 long mammary 

 glands on the sides of the belly. The young are usually 2 to 6 



in number, densely furred 

 when born, with eyes 

 open and incisor teeth 

 well deve loped. Just 

 how or where the young 

 are kept hidden away un- 

 til old enough to run and 

 take care of themselves 

 seems not to be generally 

 know n. The breeding 

 season appears to be very 

 irregular, and in favor- 

 able years it is probable 

 that several litters are 

 raised. 



Food habits. Green 

 grass and a great variety 

 of wild plants are eaten by 

 these rabbits, but their favorite food seems to be clover, alfalfa, 

 growing grains, and garden vegetables. In winter, or when other 

 green vegetation is scarce, they eat buds, twigs, and bark, and 

 seem especially fond of the bark of young fruit trees, such as apple, 

 pear, peach, and plum. During the dry time of late summer they 

 are most inclined to visit fields and gardens where succulent food may 

 be obtained. 



Economic status. In Oregon these rabbits seem generally sound 

 and healthy and are good for food and game. They are rarely so 

 numerous as to be of serious importance in destruction of crops or 

 orchards, and in most cases a few simple precautions will prevent 

 losses. Orchards of young trees are most likely to suffer from them 

 in winter or dry weather, but a paper or wire netting or wood ve- 

 neer wrapped around each tree up about 20 inches will prove ample 

 protection, or the few rabbits that visit the orchard may be hunted 

 down and killed. In a country of abundant vegetation they have 

 little effect on grazing or forage crops, but in grainfields or gardens 

 they may do slight damage at times. There seems to be no record of 

 their increasing to such numbers in Oregon as to become a menace 

 to agriculture as they have at times in California. 



FIGURE 15. Range of the California and Oregon 

 jack rabbits in Oregon : 1, Lepus californicus cali- 

 fornicus; 2, L. c. wallawalla. Type locality 

 circled. 



