40 JACK RABBITS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BOUNTIES. 



Bounties have been paid on jack rabbits in five of tlie Western 

 States — California, Idalio, Oregon, Texas, and Ftali — but the amounts 

 have been small as compared with similar expenditures for the destruc- 

 tion of other animals. In Oregon, Texas, and Utah the rates were 

 fixed by State laws, but in California the bounties varied in different 

 counties. Bounties on rabbits Lave been even less successful, so far 

 as extermination is concerned, than those offered for coyotes, prairie 

 dogs, i^ocket gophers, or ground squirrels. 



CALIFORNIA. 



One the main objects of bounties in California, particularly those 

 offered by the counties in the San Joaqui.i Valley, was to encourage 

 rabbit drives, and in some cases the payments were almost sufficient 

 to defray such expenses. Eight counties have offered bounties during 

 recent years, namely, Butte, Colusa, Fresno, Modoc, San Bernardino, 

 Shasta, Sutter, and Tulare. In the case of Sutter C(Uinty, and possibly 

 one or two others, the returns include amounts ex ] tended for i)0(!ket 

 gophers and ground scpiirrels. Bounties are seldom offered on rabbits 

 alone, and it is difficult to obtain the amounts expended for each 

 species. 



A rate of 10 cents per scalp was paid both by Butte and Colusa 

 counties — tbe highest rate paid for any considerable length of time. 

 In Butte County it was maintained from .January 7, 1887, to February 

 1, 1800; in Colusa, from February 10, 1888, to September 12, 1892. The 

 bounty was then reduced to -4 cents and continued to February 1, 1894. 



In Fresno the bounty was offered merely to defray the expenses of 

 the rabbit drives, and was not paid unless at least 1,(M)0 pairs of ears 

 were presented at one time. The total amount expended was about 

 $500, indicating that more than 3.3,000 scalps were received. 



In the spring of 1880 the supervisors of Modoc County otfered 3 

 cents ai)iece for rabbit scalps, and in three mouths expeiuled $820.77 

 for 27,55!) scal|)s.' 



The bounty offered by San Bernardino County abcmt two years after 

 the passage of the coyote scalp act of 1891, is uniijue from the fact that 

 its main object was to offset the ettect of the Stat*' bounty on coyotes. 

 The ordinance went into effect Augusj; 25, 1893, and ex]»rred by limita- 

 tion on Di'cember of the same year. It i)rovided that the rabbits 

 must be killed within 2 miles of a cultivated orchard, nursery, vineyard, 

 or alfalfa field not less than 1 acre in extent, and the scalps must be 

 deposited within thirty days with a justice of the i)eaee of the town- 

 ship in which the animals were killed. 



Tulare County expended $5,000 lor bounties on ground s<juirrel8 

 previous to November 1894, besides paying $3,000 for bounties on rab- 



' Forest aud Stream, XXVi.1, August 5, 1886, p. 26. 



