104 MAMMALS OF UTAH 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN SNOWSHOE 

 RABBIT 



LEPUS BAIRDI (Hayden) 



Lepus bairdi Hayden, Am. Naturalist, III, pp. 115-116, I text 

 fig., May, 1869. 



Description — Color in summer pelage: Upperparts of 

 body varying from dusky slightly buffy grayish brown to 

 rusty cinnamon brown; wash of dusky strongest along 

 top of back, about as in americanus and rump even more 

 blackish (about as in macfarlani) ; top of tail black ; sides 

 of body like back; top and sides of head deep reddish cin- 

 namon mixed with dusky on crown and cheeks, but nearly 

 pure about eyes and sides of nose; the color of head usually 

 brighter and contrasting with the dulled and darker color 

 of body ; basal front hall of ears similar to top of head and 

 shading into, dusky near tip ; posterior half of ears on out- 

 side dingy grayish on basal part and becoming blackish on 

 terminal half; inside of ears dusky brownish with a well- 

 marked white border around entire margin; nape dusky 

 brown, duller than back ; front and hind feet usually white, 

 but one Idaho and one Wallawa Lake, Oregon, specimen have 

 fore feet and legs and front border of thighs similar to head 

 and tops of hind feet whitish with a thin mixture of rusty 

 cinnamon hairs ; underside of neck similar to sides of body 

 but often much deeper or more richly colored; rest of 

 underparts snowy white with color of flanks sometimes 

 extending in on sides of abdomen. Postjuvenal pelage: 

 (A half-grown specimen from Big Snowy Mountains, Mon- 

 tana) Nearly uniform dull, slightly ochraceous, buffy, clear- 

 est about eyes and on feet; underside of neck rich rusty 

 cinnamon. Another speicmen of same age from the Snowy 

 Mountains much duller and grayer than the one described 

 and about intermediate between it and one from Wyoming. 

 Winter pelage : Entirely pure white, except a narrow dusky 

 border to tip of ears, and sometimes salmon varying to pale 

 salmon buff. (Nelson) 



Distribution — Higher parts of Rocky Mountains from 

 Idaho, Montana, and extreme eastern Washington and Ore- 

 gon, southeast through western Wyoming, eastern Utah, 

 and middle Colorado to central New Mexico. Vertical range 

 from about 8,000 feet to timerline. The specimens thus 

 far taken in Utah are from the Wasatch and Uinta Mounr 

 tains. Prof. Marcus E. Jones, however, states that he has 

 seen them at Marysvale, Utah, and though specimens are 



