CHAPTER X 

 BABBITS, USEFUL AND INJURIOUS 



RABBITS hold a prominent place among the 

 obstacles to success met with by both the 

 farmer and the orchardist. They number many 

 species, and one or more is present in any 

 habitable part of the continent to which you 

 may refer. The East has in its middle and 

 southern part the familiar and widely distrib- 

 uted gray rabbit or Molly Cottontail, which ex- 

 tends westward to the plains ; and the smaller, 

 and redder swamp-rabbit of the South; while 

 in our northeastern States and in eastern 

 Canada the larger American or varying-hare, 

 which turns white in winter, is present, and con- 

 stitutes the principal winter fare of such 

 worthy animals as the lynx, wolf, fox and vari- 

 ous martens, and of some hawks and owls. In 

 the West the great jack-rabbits abound, and in 

 the far North the arctic white hares. 



Excellence of rabbit-flesh. To the native 

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