78 JACK EABBITS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



skins here, and as far as I can learn no one has ever heard of canning 

 the meat." Mr. D. E. Payne, of Independence, Cal., writes under date 

 of September 18, 1895: "Many years ago there was a cannery engaged 

 in putting up all kinds of wild game, and probably they used some 

 jack rabbits, but during my long residence in California I never saw 

 them in the market put uj) in cans." 



There seems no good reason why rabbits can not be profitably 

 canned, and some commission merchants claim that this would relieve 

 the glut in the market at certain times in winter and bring about " 

 better prices. Several preserving companies are in operation in Vic- 

 toria and in Xew Zealand. In October, 1886, Hon. James M. Morgan, 

 then United States consul-gener^il at Melbourne, Australia, reported 

 that "in the Colac and Camperdown district | Victoria] a preserving 

 factory was started some few years back and operations carried on with 

 vigor, the factory working each year for about six months, from March 

 to October, and during that period i)urchasing from 750,000 to 1,000,000 

 rabbits, the price paid being about 28. Od. per dozen. These rabbits 

 are nearly all obtained from the stony rises and surrounding districts, 

 as they can not be sent to the factory in proper condition from any 

 great distance." (U. S. Consular Kepts. for Dec, 188(i, XX, pp. 482-484.) 



GENERAL SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. 



(1) The various species of jack rabbits are all more or less alike in 

 habits, and all feed largely on bark and herbage. 



(2) When food is easily obtained, and particularly on newly culti- 

 vated land, the ral)bits increase rapidly and do great damage to crops. 

 The black-tailed species are more gregarious tlian the Prairie Hare, 

 and as a rule are more destructive. 



(3) The best means of protecting crops from tiie attacks of rabbits, 

 and in fact the only method which can be relied on, is the use of 

 rabbit-proof fences. 



(4) Under favorable circumstances great numbers of jack rabbits 

 may be killed by drives or large hunts, but this means will only serve 

 to reduce their numbers, and can not be used to exterminate the pests. 



(5) Bounties or other direct expenditures of public money for the 

 destruction of rabbits have ftiiled to accomplish the desired object. 

 Bounty laws afford unusual o])portunities for fraud, and the amounts 

 expended are often so large as to be a serious burden on the county or 

 State. 



(6) The extermination of rabbits can only be accomplished by coop- 

 eration on the part of individual farmers or landowners. The work of 

 destruction can be most ettectually aiid economically done when the 

 animals have suffered an unusual decrease in numbers, either from a 

 severe winter, lack of food, or an epidemic. 



(7) Commercial utilization is the most promising and least expensive 

 method of keeping these pests in check in localities where they are 



