CHAPTER II. 

 ABUNDANCE AND RAPIDITY OF INCREASE. 



It is well known tliat jack rabbits are very prolific, and reference 

 has already been made to tlie j^re.it numbers found together in some 

 parts of California, Idaho, Nevada, and South Dakota. Similar 

 instances might be mentioned for southeastern Colorado and central 

 Utah. But the best illustrations of extraordinary abundance in lim- 

 ited areas can perhaps be found in California. In ]\Iodoc County, in 

 the northern part of the State, nearly 2."3,(H)0 Jack rabbits were said 

 to have been killed in three months on a tract of land only G by 8 

 miles in extent j this was during the period when the bounty law was 

 in force. A still more remarkable case has been recorded in the San 

 Joaquin Valley, Some of the early drives near Bakerslield took place 

 on a ranch less than 1 square mile in extent. In the first drive, on the 

 afternoon of January 2, 1888, 1,12G rabbits were killed; as soon as the 

 animals were dispatched, the same field was passed over again and 796 

 more killed. A week later, on January 10, there were two drives on the 

 same ground, tlie first resulting in the destruction of 2,000 rabbits, the 

 second in more than 3,000; in the hitter an adjoining field was also 

 driven over. It Mas estimated that altogether about 8,000 rabbits 

 were killed on this ranch in nine days. The * Kern County Kcho' of 

 March (8 ?), 1888, stated that a total of about 40,000 rabbits had been 

 killed in the drives about liakerslield from Jaiuiary 1, 18S8, up to that 

 date, and referred to an estimate that two-thirds of the rabbits killed 

 in the drives were females and the average number of young of each of 

 these was 3i. On this l)asis it was computed that had these 40,000 rab- 

 bits lived two months they would have increased to l.{r>,000. AVhen 

 it is considered how much injury a single rabbit can «lo, the damage 

 which such an army of rabbits is capable of inflicting would hardly be 

 less than that caused by a grasshoppei- plague. 



Surprise is sometimes expresse«l that jack rabbits are not entirely 

 exterminated in regions where they have been mercilessly slaughtered 

 for years, and it might be supposed that animals which live on the 

 open plains without even the juotection aflbrdcd by })urrows or holes 

 of any kind, could easily be kept within bounds, though they have 

 comparatively few natural enemies. But experience has shown that 

 this is no easy matter. Ada County, Idaho, which has been systemat- 

 ically killing otl" the jacks for fifteen years under the bounty system, 

 received more scalps and expended more money for this purpose during 

 189.") than in any vear since the bounty law first went into effect in 1878. 

 24 



