REMARKS ON THE GENUS LEPUS. 
93 
mon article of food. Immediately after we arrived, 
we were regaled with a dish of hares, and I thought 
I had never eaten any thing more delicious. They 
are found here in great numbers on the plains co- 
vered with wormwood, (Artemesia.) It is so exceed- 
ingly fleet that no ordinary dog can catch it. I 
have frequently surprised it in its form, and shot it 
as it leapt away, but I found it necessary to be very 
expeditious, and to pull trigger at a particular in- 
stant, or the game was off among the wormwood, 
and I never saw it again. The Indians kill them 
with arrows, by approaching them stealthily, as 
they lie concealed under the bushes, and in winter 
take them with nets. To do this, some one or 
two hundred Indians, men, women, and children, 
collect, and enclose a large space with a slight net, 
about five feet wide, made of hemp ; the net is kept 
in a vertical position by pointed sticks attached to 
it, and driven into the ground. These sticks are 
placed about five or six feet apart, and at each one 
an Indian is stationed, with a short club in his 
hand. After these arrangements are completed, a 
large number of Indians enter the circle, and beat 
the bushes in every direction. The frightened 
hares dart off towards the net, and, in attempting 
to pass, are knocked on the head and secured. Mr. 
Pambrun, the superintendent of Fort Walla-walla, 
from whom I obtained this account, says that he 
has often participated in this sport with the Indians, 
and has known several hundred to be thus taken in 
a day. When captured alive, it does not scream 
hke the common gray rabbit, (Lepus sylvaticus.) 
