124 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
fifty pounds, considerably greater than that of the deer or do- 
mesticated sheep. The color is white beneath, grayish brown 
elsewhere. The horns of the ram are very large, sometimes 
five inches through at the base and three feet long. The 
horns, after starting upward, turn backward, then downward, 
and so round with a circular or spiral shape, the tip inclining 
outward. Mountaineers assert that these horns are used by 
the sheep in getting down from the high cliffs which he is fond 
of frequenting. Instead of clambering down toi!somely over 
the rugged and broken rocks, he makes an easy job of it by 
leaping headlong, confidently down, over precipices fifty, yes, 
one hundred feet high, and alights head first on his horns, 
which are strong enough to be unbroken by the shock, and 
elastic enough to throw him ten or fifteen feet into the air— 
and the next time he alights on his feet all right. 
§ 94. The Hare Fumily.—The Californian hare, or “jackass 
rabbit,” as it is commonly called (Lepus californicus), is one 
of* the largest of its class, growing sometimes to be two feet 
long from the nose to the end of the tail. Its ears are very 
large, and have suggested the vulgar name. It was once 
abundant in all the valleys from the Klamath to the Colorado; 
it is more rare now. The color beneath is a pale cinnamon; 
above it is mixed black and light cinnamon, the longest hairs 
being of a light smoky-ash color for about half the length, 
then dark sovty-brown, then pale cinnamon-red, and finally 
black at the tip. 
The prairie hare (Lepus campestris) also, one of the largest 
hares, inhabits the plateau of the Sierra Nevada, Pit River 
valley, and the country about the Klamath lakes. It is all 
white in winter;.in summer yellowish gray, with brownish 
tinges above and white beneath. The length, from the tip of 
the nose to the root of the tail, is from seventeen to twenty- 
three inches; and the tail and ear each measure about four 
inches. ; 
Audubon’s hare (Lepus audubonit) inhabits the coast val- 
leys from Petaluma to San Diego. It is fifteen inches long, 
