3924] Swarth: Birds and Mammals of the SkeenaBiver Region 385 



separating the two species in this region, or their ranges may really 

 overlap for some distance. More data are required to establish the 

 actual conditions. 



We happened to visit the Skeena Valley in a "good rabbit year" 

 and the animals were abundant everywhere in the lowlands. None was 

 seen at high altitudes. In the poplar woods the ground was con- 

 spicuously crisscrossed with rabbit trails, and these trails were in 

 constant use. The rabbits themselves were most often encountered 

 about dusk; at that time, too, in a walk through the woods there 

 could be heard again and again the resounding thumps of rabbits' 

 feet, as the startled creatures fled unseen. This alarm note, usually 



TABLE 4- 



Measurements in Millimeters op Lepus amerioanus columiiensis trom the 

 Upper Skeena Vallet, B. C. 



repeated many times, presumably serves some good purpose, but it 

 seemed as though in this region it could act only as a guide for some 

 pursuing horned owl that otherwise would have had difficulty in 

 following its prey throiigh the bushes. 



By the middle of June young rabbits were seen in some numbers, 

 but we found it impossible to shoot them. They were much more 

 active than the adults, and in the tangles of windfall and brush where 

 we saw them, usually close underfoot, they could dart under cover 

 with amazing speed. The juveniles collected were all trapped. 



Adults taken early in June still retained some of the white winter 

 pelage. One collected on June 6 is pure white below, the feet are 

 white (with pale cinnamon under-fur) , and there are scattered white 

 hairs on the rump and sides. The white lingers longest upon the feet, 

 traces being seen even upon one or two rabbits that were shot in July. 



Pregnant females taken on Jane 1, June 12, and July 11, contained, 

 respectively, eight, one, and five embryos. 



