102 
JOUBNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
tion of this species is one of the wonders of nature. The marvelous 
fecundity of the animal as seen in the usual seven-year cycle of abun- 
dance, seems a reflection on the beneficence of nature, when such num- 
bers subsequently are so effectually reduced. But without some pro- 
vision for reduction the final consequences would be rather appalling. 
It is certain that in time all herbaceous things would disappear. The 
country would lie in devastation before the progeny of such a prolific 
race. Of course if this did occur the balance would be struck again 
when the rabbits all passed away in starvation, but nature proceeds 
in a more cautious manner without such waste on both sides. 
It so happened, that upon my first visit to the West in 1912 the rabbit 
population was at its height. It was such a revelation after my eastern 
experiences, so startling, that the vividness of theii* abundance can never 
leave me. A certain brushy flat adjoining the White Mud River, south- 
west of Edmonton, yielded the initial surprise. It was grown to scrub 
willow, the common trembling aspen, and to some extent with rank 
under- vegetation. The place was infested. I do not hesitate to say 
that over that tract of perhaps thirty acres hundreds of hares were 
found. October had come, without snow. The rabbits had already, 
wholly or in part, donned their snow-white livery of winter, and were 
consequently very conspicuous against the mellow brown of the autumn 
woods. At every turn during my ramble they popped up here and 
there and scurried for fresh cover. Not only in singles, which was as- 
tonishing enough, but often twos and even threes. started up in wild 
alarm. The newness of such an experience does not soon wear away. 
One receives a peculiar thrill at each additional incident. Scarcely has 
one received the impression of the previous fleeing object than perhaps 
another startlingly rockets out from nearly underfoot, stirring up sev- 
eral more in the haste of evacuation. After the first wild impulse of 
flight which is generally deferred until the last moment, the rabbit 
bounds leisurely away, sometimes out of sight but as often calling a halt 
within a few yards. Alarm gives place to a very singular curiosity. 
Individuals with really admirable nonchalance describe a dozen lei- 
surely jumps, halt, assume an attitude of keen inquiry, a rigid immobility 
popularly known as ^Treezing,’’ and wait. That pause is oftentimes 
fatal. They appear bold or indifferent because of their very numbers. 
These snowy figures like statues in the distance form one of the 
features of a woodland ramble. 
Over the country to which these remarks broadly refer, namely, the 
northern and western parts of Alberta, the rabbits often become a 
