CALIFORNIA JACK RABBIT. 17 



course ; there is nothing of the dodging or scuttling about that marks the running 

 of the smaller rabbits. As it gains on its pursuers, and its fears subside, the springs 

 grow weaker, just as a flat stone 'skipped' on the water diminishes in length of 

 the rebounds, and finally the animal squats in its tracks on its haunches with a 

 jerk, to look and listen. ^ « * The attitude at such times is highly character- 

 istic. One fore foot is advanced a little before the other, and the ears are held 

 pointing in opposite directions. A hare in such an attitude as this is always upon 

 the watch, and the slightest stimulation of its fears at such a time is enough to start 

 it on its bounding course. It is a beautiful exhibition of timid watchfulness. 



I hare never seen this hare stand erect with its forepaws off the ground, as some 

 of its smaller relatives are wont to do, and I doubt that it ever assumes this attitude 

 except perhaps momentarily. 



California Jack Rabbit. 



(Lcpus californicus Gray.) 



The California Hare is one of the most easily recognized of the black- 

 tailed rabbits which inhabit the United States. It is gray above, often 

 tinged with brownish and mixed with black; the lower surface of the 

 body and tail is buff. From the tip of the nose to the end of the tail 

 vertebrse it measures about 234 inches (592 mm.). The ears vary from 

 5 to 6 inches (130-150 mm.), while the tail is only about 4 inches (102 

 mm.) in length.^ The only other species which is likely to be confused 

 with it is the Texan Jack Eabbit {Lepus texianus), which is also found 

 west of the Sierra Nevada, in the San Joaquin Valley. But while indi- 

 viduals of both species show considerable variation in color according 

 to season, the California Hare is browner and darker above, and the 

 lower surface of the body and tail is buff or tan color, instead of white, 

 as in the Texan species. Both are about the same size, but the tail in 

 the California Jack Eabbit averages about an inch (25 mm.) longer. 



]!^owhere in the United States, and perhaps nowhere in the> world, 

 except in Australia, are rabbits so abundant as in some parts of Cali- 

 fornia, but the published data respecting the distribution of the several 

 species is a good illustration of how much still remains to be learned 

 about even the commonest animals. The California Jack Rabbit was 

 described in 1837, the same year in which the Prairie Hare was named, 

 and the Texan species w^as first made known in 1848. Although all 

 three of these rabbits have been frequently collected for nearly half 

 a century, and all have been known to occur in California, it is only 

 recently that the limits of their ranges have been accurately determined. 



Hitherto it has been the custom to refer all the large black-tailed 

 rabbits found west of the Sierra Kevada to the California species 

 {Lepun californicus) ; but the Death Valley expedition sent out by the 

 Department of Agriculture established the fact that the one best 

 known, on account of its extraordinary abundance, in the lower San 

 Joaquin Valley is not the California Jack Rabbit, but the widely dis- 

 tributed Texan species which occurs in the bottom of the valley from 

 the Tejon Mountains north almost to latitude 38°. 



' Average of 10 specimens from northern California. 

 8615— No. 8 2 



