Jack Rabbit 
Cottontails of one form or another stretch all across our Con- 
tinent and varying hares occur Westward in the boreal forests 
just as they do in the East, but the distinctively Western member 
of the hare tribe is the jack rabbit. From the Eastern border of 
the plains to the shores of the Pacific there is scarcely any spot 
Where one form or another of the jack rabbit does not occur, 
but farther East it is unknown. The white-tailed jack rabbit is 
the one found on the Great Plains and upper part of the Great 
Basin. Southward and partly overlapping is the range of the 
Texan or black-tailed jack rabbit while in California is found still 
another species. . 
Living entirely in the open, jack rabbits are more than ever 
dependent upon the protective colouration, speed and delicacy of 
hearing which are so characteristic of the whole tribe. Dr. Coues 
says, ‘‘The first sign one has usually of a hare which has squatted 
low in hopes of concealment, till its fears force it to fly, is a 
great bound into the air with lengthened body and erect ears. 
The instant it touches the ground it is up again, it does not come 
fairly down and gather itself for the next spring but seems to 
hold its legs stiffly extended, touch only its toes and rebound by 
the force of its impact. As it gains on its pursuers, and its fears 
subside, the springs grow weaker, and finally the animal squats 
in its tracks on its haunches with a jerk, to look and listen. 
One fore foot is advanced a little before the other, and the ears 
are held pointing in opposite directions. The attitude at such 
times is highly characteristic.” 
For its home the jack rabbit has only an open ‘‘ form” beneath 
a bush or clump of weeds; here it sleeps in sunshine and storm 
always on the alert for danger, ready to dash away on the instant. 
When the ‘‘rabbit brush” grows thick they are comparatively 
safe and well sheltered, but in certain bare stretches of unbroken 
waste land they have to seek shelter as best they may, crouch- 
ing beside some white wind-bleached stalk or in the shadow of 
a telegraph pole. The northern species turns white in winter 
and so escapes observation on the snow. 
The young, from one to six in number, are brought forth in 
the form, which is simply a little space among the weeds and 
bushes where the grass, when there is any, has been trampled 
flat and perhaps slightly carpeted with loose fur. 
The time of birth vaties from late winter to early summer 
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