112 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA [No. 55 



eral long cuts across his hands in trying to hold the rabbit long 

 enough to move him to another cage. After a time the rabbit be- 

 came quite gentle and would sit in one's lap or crawl under one's 

 coat for a nap. 



Voices. Thomas Large, of Eden, Idaho, has reported these rabbits 

 making a " barking sound like a half -grown chicken " from the 

 mouth of their burrows, probably the same call that was heard at 

 Voltage, Oreg. It is not unlike the sound sometimes made by a 

 cony (O&hotona) from deep down under the rocks and may have the 

 same use as a warning to others. 



Breeding habits. Adult females have the mammae arranged in 

 5 pairs 1 inguinal, 2 abdominal, and 2 pectoral on 2 long mam- 

 mary glands, and the number of young at a birth are shown by 

 sets of embryos to be usually 5 to 8. There is some evidence that 

 two litters are raised in a season, but little is known of the actual 

 breeding habits. 



Food habits. At Crane, Oreg., in July 1916, when these little 

 sage rabbits were abundant, many stomachs were examined and all 

 were found filled, mainly with green leaves of sagebrush (Artemisia 

 tridentata). Their flesh also smelled and tasted strongly of this 

 plant. One man said he had seen them up in the tops of the bushes 

 picking sage leaves, but the writer has some doubt of the correctness 

 of this observation. The animal observed may have been a ground 

 squirrel. A few green leaves and stems of rye were found with 

 the sage leaves near a grainfield. In other places and at other sea- 

 sons, May to August, the writer found their flesh flavored with 

 Artemisia. At Malheur Lake in August 1920 they had been feeding 

 on Artemisia and Tetradymia leaves, a little pigweed (Ohenopod- 

 ium), and other little green plants and grasses. In captivity, they 

 ate rolled oats, three species of Chenopodiwn, Atriplex rmttcUli, 

 fSarcobatus, Dondia, dock, nettles, many grasses, including saltgrass, 

 cabbage, cantaloup, and apple parings, the last three the most 

 eagerly. 



Their winter food is probably more exclusively sagebrush as at 

 Paradise, Nev., S. E. Piper reported them in February 1908 as " not 

 eaten by the inhabitants because of their strong taste of sage." 



Economic status. Although more prolific than other rabbits, these 

 little fellows have but slight economic importance. Wlri^ 6 plump, 

 generally healthy, and sometimes excellent eating, their small size 

 and usual flavor of sagebrush render them of little game or food 

 value. On the other hand, their short legs and inability to live away 

 from dense cover keeps them back from clearings and settlements, 

 and almost precludes any serious damage to crops, while their food 

 habits are not of a nature to reduce seriously the grazing capacity 

 of a range. As pets for children they might have especial advantage 

 in the small size, short legs, and gentle dispositions. 



Family OCHOTONIDAE: Rock Conies 



OCHOTONA SCHISTICEPS TAYLORI GBINNELL 



WABNER MOUNTAIN CONY ; TAYLOR'S CONY ; PIKA 

 Ochotona taylori Grinnell, Biol. Soc. Wash. Proc. 25 : 129, 1912. 



Type. Collected on Warren Peak (9,000 feet), Warner Mountains, Oalif., 

 by W. P. Taylor, July 18, 1910. 



