Conies are diurnal in habit, and when not feeding or making hay, 

 spend much of their time sunning themselves on rocks near their nests. 

 They have a high-pitched, squeaky note, quite penetrating, and uttered in 



saxatilis. 



a spasmodic fashion. I always think it sounds as though someone had 

 squeezed the animal suddenly as one would a toy, making it squeak. 

 Nelson renders it by the syllables "eh-eh". They have three or four young 

 in a litter, born early in the summer. In winter they probably move about 

 in the slide rock, and possibly just on top of it, under the snow, but it must 

 be confessed that little is known about their winter habits. The coat is 

 rather long and soft, very similar in texture to that of a rabbit, and in 

 color is a mixture of brown, gray and black. The total length is about 

 eight jnches, with the tail practically wanting. 



RABBITS. 



Our rabbits divide naturally into two groups, one including the Jack 

 Rabbits and the Snowshoe Rabbit, the other the Cottontails. The former 

 are really Hares, belonging to the genus Lepus, and their young are born 

 fully furred and with their eyes open; the latter belong to the genus 

 Sylvilagus, and their young are born naked and blind, as is the case with 

 our domestic rabbits. The Jack Rabbits divide again into two groups, the 

 White-tails and Black-tails, and are found over most of the open parts of 

 the state. The Black-tails are confined to the lower elevations, while the 

 White-tails range even to above timberline on some of our highest moun- 

 tains. There are two subspecies of each, the White-tailed Jack Rabbit, 

 L. toAvnsendi campanius, and the Western White-tailed Jack Rabbit, L. 

 townsendi townsendi; the Great Plains Jack Rabbit, L. californicus me- 

 lanotis, and the Texas Jack Rabbit, L. c. texianus. 



Living as they do in the open, the Jack Rabbits make their forms 

 under protecting weeds or low bushes, usually, I think, where they can 



28 



