44 



JACK RABBITS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Government ICxpenditures for Denlrmtion of Rabbits in Australia and Neio Zealand, 



]S79-iSSS.* 



* Progress Ilept. New South "Wales Royal Cora. Inquiry Exterm. Rabbits, 1890, App. IT. pp. 190-102. . 



t Hon; J. H. Carruthers, Minister for Lands, gives £831,457 4s. Id., as the total amount expended from 

 the passage ot the rabbit act in 1883 to June 30, 1890. The figures for each year are less in nearly 

 every case than in the statement quoted above, but represent the sums disbursed " solely for the pur- 

 pose of attempting to get rid of the rabbit." FroTU .July 1. 1890, to December 31. 1894, the expenditure 

 amounted to only £22,761, which was devoted to fences. (Rept. Conference Rabbit Pest in New South 

 Wales, 1895, p. 6.") 



♦Total expenditures up to 1S94 (largely for fences), £136,484 8s. (Tear Book Australia for 1894, 

 p. 145.) 



NATURAL ENEMIES OF JACK RABBITS. 



Birds of prey seldom molest the larger hares. Among those whicli 

 are known to feed on jack rabbits are the barn owl {8trix iwatincohi)^ 

 Audubon's caracara {Polyhorus cher'ncay)^ prairie falcon {Faleo mexi- 

 caniis), and western red-tailed hawk; but remains of the Texan rabbit 

 have been found in the stomach of the red-tail in only three cases 

 among a large number examined. The western horned owl [Bubo 

 mrginianus suharcticus) and the golden eagle {Aquila ehryscetos) should 

 also be mentioned. The marsh hawk {Circus Jiudsonius) occasionally 

 attacks rabbits, and Mr. J. Alden Loring shot one at Vernon, Tex., while 

 in the act of killing a young Jack rabbit whicli weighed a pound and a 

 half. 



The mammals in this list are likewise few in unmber, the most 

 important being the coyote {Canis lafrans), gray \vo\f {Canis mihilus), 

 long-eared fox {Vulpes macrotis), gray fox [Urocyon), and wild-cat 

 {Lynx). Skunks, weasels, and badgers may occasionally destroy the 

 young, but seldom, if ever, the full-grown hares. The badger, an inde- 

 fatigable hunter of the ground squirrel and the prairie dog, is too slow 

 of foot to overtake the jack rabbit in a fair race, and is unable to cor- 

 ner him in a hole, as he can a burrowing animal. 



On the Great Plains the gray wolf undonbtedly destroys large num- 

 bers of jack rabbits in the region from (3olorado northward. In Mon- 

 tana, according to Dr. George Bird Grinnell,' "The abundance or 

 scarcity of the prairie hare in any district depends almost altogether on 

 the number of wolves to be found in the same tract of country. Where 

 all the coyotes and gray wolves have been killed or driven off, the hares 

 exist in great numbers; but where the former are abundant, the latter 

 are seldom seen. We saw none near the Missouri River, where the 

 buffaloes, and consequently the wolves, were numerous; but at Camp 



' Ludlow's Rept. Reconnaissauce Yellowstone Nat. Park, 1876, p. 69. 



