COTTONTAIL RABBIT 



Lepus floridanus mallurus. % 



No animal in our country is better known, more hunted to-day 

 as game, or more relished for food, than this rabbit, whose range 

 extends from New England to Yucatan, with other common varie- 

 ties further north and west. Were it not one of the most prolific 

 of animals, extermination would long ago have been its fate, be- 

 cause of the value of its excellent flesh and the fair quality of its 

 fur. Upon consideration, however, of its destructiveness and its 

 rapidity of increase, which have made it such a pest in Australia, we 

 can but regard the sport of its pursuit a legitimate diversion, and 

 the resulting trophies an unfortunate necessity. 



Nature, to be sure, has done her part in its protection by the 

 gift of a coloring of a gray and reddish brown, harmonizing with 



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