January, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
27 
ARIZONA JACK RABBITS 
T HESE Jack Rabbits are a queer lot. 
They certainly get unique action 
out of their legs and ears and seem 
to use their front feet only every three 
or four strokes with their hind ones 
when they really get into action. The 
ranch airedale never wastes more than 
enough energy on them to start them 
up, and he shows good sense. 
The other day when driving in the cat- 
tle, the herd evidently trapped and sur- 
rounded a Jack Rabbit. I was driving 
them along, from behind, and saw it 
come crawling out, ears flat back and 
evidently scared to death. If I had been 
on foot I believe I could have quite eas- 
ily picked it up by the ears. I first saw 
it picking its way along, dodging their 
hoofs. It was crawling so flat to the 
ground that I did not recognize it at 
first as a Jack Rabbit. After it had 
successfully emerged and the last cows 
were well by it, it slowly recovered from 
its daze, lifted up its ears, and when 
we were 50 feet beyond it hopped off in 
a natural manner. Another day I shot 
a Jack which must have weighed 15 
lbs. For some reason the whites round 
here won’t eat them, though the Mexi- 
cans do; they look like fine eating. 
W. B. N., Tucson, Arizona. 
RATS AS COLLECTORS OF 
PINYON NUTS 
T HERE are many varieties of the 
trade or pack rat ( Neotoma ) and 
one kind which I saw something of in 
the Painted Desert of Arizona has a 
rather interesting feature. In the cedar 
belt which surrounded the San Francisco 
mountains there are many pinyon trees. 
The rats collect’ great quantities of the 
nuts which they store. 
When a hungry Navaho wants some 
nuts he hunts for a rat’s store and will 
often get several hatfuls at one haul. 
Thus nature takes care of the survival 
of the fittest, although it is sometimes 
rather rough on the trade rat. 
Dwight Franklin, New York City. 
WHY IS A RABBIT? 
T here are few wild animals that 
have not stepped aside to let the 
white man pass. As we walk in 
the country there are birds whose do- 
main, the air, is yet to all intents and 
purposes uninvaded. A woodchuck 
scrambles into his burrow, or squirrels 
bark at us in the trees from the shelter 
of which they do not venture far. Oc- 
casionally a skunk wanders across the 
road, confident of being unmolested, and 
tracks in the fresh morning snow show 
that some of the old mammalian life still 
goes on when diurnal man is asleep. But, 
in general, unless we go to the wilder- 
ness, the rabbit is the only creature we 
can kick out of the brush or in any way 
meet on our own ground. 
The friendly feeling which many of 
us have for rabbits does not account for 
their being of such frequent occurrence, 
even within the confines of towns. Few 
creatures have been more persistently 
hunted by man. He is only one more 
of many enemies for them and they re- 
tain their hold on life in spite of him. 
The rabbit is one of nature’s great in- 
ventions, simple and unique. Among 
man’s masterpieces it may be compared 
to the match. Other gnawing animals, 
the squirrel and the rat and the gopher 
and the beaver, are variously modified 
each for some purpose, and the world 
contains many similar creatures that are 
neither the one of these nor the other, 
just as a well appointed tool shop con- 
tains various variations linking axe, 
hammer, chisel and screw-driver. But a 
match is always a match and a rabbit 
always a rabbit. The comparison need 
not stop here ; the principal things 
about a match are the two ends, one 
which you hold and the other which you 
light. The principal things which make 
a rabbit unlike other creatures are the 
two ends, one to enable it to “get wise,” 
the other to “get out,” and both con- 
structed for 100 per cent, efficiency. The 
hawk has keen eyes, the hound a sensi- 
tive nose, and the bat probably trusts 
much to hearing. The receiving end of 
the rabbit is not letting any of these 
sources of information go by default. 
(continued on page 46) 
'lne American Museum of Natural History’s group of Black-tailed Jack Rabbits in the sage-brush 
