3OO ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



and that they will eat the flesh of "another rabbit, muskrat, or any 

 other small animal," if the skin has been torn or removed, but will not 

 eat those whose skins are entire. 26 Saunders says that in Ontario the 

 introduced European hares sometimes kill cottontail rabbits, but do 

 not eat them. 27 Rabbits are said to devour land snails also, and cotton- 

 tail rabbits were found to be eating the cocoons of the large silk moth, 

 Samia cecropia. 28 



Because of the recreational value they provide for numerous hunt- 

 ers, and the value of their flesh for food, rabbits are partially protected 

 by law in many states and Canadian provinces. 29 In addition, at least 

 seven states have, within the past few years, brought in live rabbits 

 from other states and liberated them, in order to replenish their de- 

 pleted stock. 30 In contrast with this, many states at various times have 

 paid bounties for the destruction of both cottontails and jack rabbits, 

 but that course has not proved effective, a subject discussed in Chap- 

 ter xxvn, on Legislation Concerning Mammals. 



In western states, where rabbits have been particularly destructive, 

 organized drives and poisoning campaigns are frequently conducted, 

 often in cooperation with the United States Biological Survey. In one 

 such campaign 40,000 jack rabbits were killed in one Idaho county, 

 15,000 in another, 20,000 in another, 19,000 in another and 5000 in an- 

 other. 31 One day's shooting by 200 guns at Lamar, Colorado, netted 

 5142 rabbits, a two-day hunt at the same place netted 6000, while a one- 

 day drive in San Joaquin Valley, California, netted 35,000 rabbits. 32 In 

 Crook County, Oregon, 59,000 were killed in one winter. 33 In Grant 

 County, Washington, 61,000 rabbits were killed in one campaign, and 

 94,000 in adjacent counties. 34 Palmer gives detailed lists of 220 rabbit 



28 Soper, Notes on the snowshoe rabbit, Journ. Mammalogy, n, 101-107, 1921. 



27 Saunders, Carnivorous habit of the European hare, Journ. Mammalogy, x, 170, 

 1929. 



28 Wright, Journ. Conch., xn, 268, 1922. Oldham, Journ. Conch., xvin, 335, 1929. 

 Lawson, Journ. Conch., xvin, 327-328, 1929. Pilsbry and Bequaert, Bull. Amer. Mus. 

 Nat. Hist., LIII, 479, 1927. Taylor, Monog. land and fresh-water Mollusca of Brit. 

 Isles, m, 281. Bird, Cottontail rabbits are insectivorous, Journ. Mammalogy, xi, 

 240, 1930. 



29 Game laws for the season 1929-1930, Farmers' Bull., No. 1616, 1929. 



30 Dice, The transfer of game and fur-bearing mammals from state to state, 

 with special reference to the cottontail rabbit, Journ. Mammalogy, vm, 90-96, 1927. 



31 Bell, Death to rodents, Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agric. for 1920, p. 436. 



32 Jones, The squirrel hunters of Ohio, p. 172, 1898. Miller, Recreation, Jan., 

 1899, p. 45. McCurdy, Recreation, Jan., 1899, pp. 17-18. All cited by Seton, Lives of 

 game animals, iv, Pt. 2, pp. 757-761, 1929. 



33 Bell, Cooperative campaigns for the control of ground squirrels, prairie-dogs 

 and jack rabbits, Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agric. for 1917, p. 232. 



84 Couch, Relationship of predatory mammals and birds of prey to rodent life, 

 Journ. Mammalogy, ix, 73, 1928. 



