JACK RABBIT ROCK RABBIT PRAIRIE DOG, 211 

 ROCK RABBIT. 



This is a pretty little animal, not so large as the 

 eastern rabbit, living generally in clefts and holes in rocks. 

 He is delicious eating and furnishes good sport. The 

 hunter rarely finds him far from his hole, and must bag 

 him with a quick shot as he scuttles away to that safe 

 refuge. 



PRAIRIE DOG. 



This well-known animal is badly named, having 

 no more of the clog about him than an ordinary grey 

 squirrel. He is a species of marmot, and burrows in the 

 ground as do wolves, foxes, racoons, skunks, and all the 

 smaller animals on the treeless plains. He lives on grass 

 and roots, and is exceedingly prolific, each female bring- 

 ing forth several sets of young each year. He is not 

 excellent eating ; but the young are as good as the com- 

 mon squirrel, and, when other fresh meat is not to be had, 

 they make no unwelcome addition to the bill of fare. 



I regard the prairie dog as a machine designed by 

 nature to convert grass into flesh, and thus furnish proper 

 food to the carnivora of the plains, which would un- 

 doubtedly soon starve but for the presence in such 

 numbers of this little animal. He is found in almost 

 every section of the open prairie, though he prefers dry 

 and arid to moist and rich localities. He requires no 

 moisture and no variety of food. The scanty grass of the 

 barest prairie appears to furnish all that is requisite for 

 his comfortable existence. Though not in a strict sense 

 gregarious, prairie dogs yet are fond of each other's com- 

 pany and dig their holes in close vicinity. Such a collection 

 is called a town, and they sometimes extend over immense 

 areas. The numbers of inhabitants are incalculable. 



Cougars, panthers, wild cats, wolves, foxes, skunks, 

 and rattlesnakes, all prey upon them without causing any 

 perceptible diminution of their immense numbers. 



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