weasel to the fox, and also all of the larger varieties of the hawks 

 and owls. They are usually quiet during the greater part of the day, 

 sleeping in dense thickets, and at dusk start out for their food 

 supply, which consists of fresh leaves, grass, roots and the tender 

 bark from young trees. They do not seem to have the instinct of 

 many other animals, like the squirrels, of storing away for future 

 use a supply for the winter. 



They are one of the most helpless of the animal family in hav- 

 ing no means of defense and have to depend wholly on their fleet- 

 ness of foot in getting away from the large number of their enemies. 



Unlike the gray rabbit, these do not burrow and make a good 

 comfortable nest in the ground, but may be found at home in dense 

 swampy thickets on the border of heavy timber and under the cover 

 of low-hanging evergreens. 



They are never abundant in any locality now, where only a few 

 years ago they were to be found common. They are shot by hunt- 



152 



