quirements of rabbithood he grew to far 

 excel the latter in strength and speed and 

 could be outrun by nothing upon the 

 prairie. Dogs were his delight. When 

 first he heard their excited barks he 

 would rear himself upright on his strong 

 hind legs and view his approaching ene- 

 my with great curiosity ; then bound 

 lightly away, but not so swiftly as to 

 discourage his pursuer, and after a run 

 of two or three miles be as fresh as ever, 

 while the dog panted with exhaustion 

 and was forced to give up ii^ despair. 

 Even the swift-footed coyote was left 

 breathless and defeated in the chase. By 

 winter his coatjwas perfectly white ex- 

 cept the tips of his long, graceful ears, 

 which were as black as jet and often a 

 moonlight evening betrayed his presence 

 to the infuriated farmer upon whose fruit 

 trees and bushes he subsisted, as a deso- 

 late waste of snow covered the prairie 

 grasses ; these failing, there is little vege- 

 tation that the Jack rabbit cannot use as 

 food. 



In vain the farmer set his traps or fol- 

 lowed on his trail. In vain the shots 

 rang out in the chill night air, for the 

 rabbit fled unharmed to return and leave 

 his footprints even at the farmer's very 

 door. 



Toward spring he chose a mate and 

 when there was tender grass to nibble 

 and the half ruined fruit trees held aloft 

 their bleached arms seemingly in despair 

 at being unable to respond to the call of 

 spring; two babies, as small and timid 

 as those of the preceding season, nestled 

 beneath a tuft of coarse grass on the 

 bank of a steep ravine. 



One evening while foraging with his 

 mate they saw two dogs the like of which 

 they had never seen before. They did 

 not bark while pursuing the chase, but 

 stretching out their long, slender, gray 

 bodies gained on the champion of the 

 prairie at every bound. It was a wild 

 chase, soon reaching a bloody termina- 

 tion. His mate had safely rounded a 

 small hill but curiosity is the Jack rabbit's 

 dominant characteristic and she reared 

 her tall form upright on the summit. Her 

 curiosity was quickly satisfied and her 

 blood stained the spring time grasses, 

 while a sportsman called his hounds and 

 rode away. 



That night a cold rain fell drearily re- 

 moving the stains of slaughter and chill- 

 ing the starving, frightened babies that 

 pressed their wet fur against a cold gray 

 stone on the banks of the steep ravine. 

 Hattie Washburn. 



THE ORIOLE 



A will-o'-the-wisp of a summer day ! 



A very strange thing, you will surely say. 



For will-o'-the-wisps are of summer nights, 



And daylight would harbor no such sprites. 



But I have seen it the sumrner long, 



Flitting or darting the leaves among ; 



Up 'mid the elm leaves' cool retreat. 



High in the arch of the village street ; 



And there where the oak leaves rustle and sigh, 



Soft, as if spirits were passing by. 



One day in autumn a red glow crept 



Wherever this wavering torch had swept. 



And the will-o'-the-wisp had gone whence it came. 



But the maples and sumachs were all aflame. 



— Charles E. Jenney. 



157 



