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object of pursuit. I have not known it to be trapped ; 

 the few I have seen killed, besides those I secured my- 

 self, were shot wantonly, to test skill with the rifle, or 

 decide a trivial wager. In the country of buffalo, elk 

 and antelope, such small game is little heeded, and its 

 pursuit made an object of ridicule. It is not so easy, 

 however, to shoot the animal, except by skilful marks- 

 manship with the rifle ; so timorous is it, that when 

 startled it rarely stops within range of a shot-gun ; while 

 its always unexpected appearance, and the great bounds 

 it gives as it makes off, render it a difficult mark, not- 

 withstanding its size. Mr. Tovvnsend has described a 

 mode of netting it in numbers, pursued by Indians. 

 "Some one or two hundred Indians, men, women and 

 children, collect, and enclose a large space with a slight 

 net about five feet wide, made of hemp ; the net is kept 

 in a vertical position by pointed sticks attached to it and 

 driven into the ground. These sticks are placed about 

 five or six feet apart, and at each one an Indian is sta- 

 tioned, with a short club in his hand. After these arrange- 

 ments are completed, a large number of Indians enter the 

 circle and beat the bushes in every direction. The fright- 

 ened hares dart off toward the net, and in attempting to 

 pass are knocked on the head and secured. Mr. Pam- 

 bruu, the superintendent of Fort Wallawalla, from whom 

 I obtained this account, says that he has often participated 

 in this sport with the Indians, and has known several hun- 

 dred to be thus taken in a day. When captured alive 

 they do net scream like the common gray rabbit (L. syl- 

 vaticus} ." 



The extraordinary agility of this animal, which would 

 be inferred from inspection of its lithe yet muscular and 

 free-limbed shape, has always attracted attention. Lewis 

 and Clark speak of its leaping eighteen to twenty-one 



