THE STORY OF THE RABBIT . 
431 
The secretary started him with a shot from the Colt; I commenced spitting 
at him with my weapon; and all at the same instant old 'Allen’s' whole 
broadside let go with a rattling crash. He frantically dropped his ears., set 
up his tail, and left for San Francisco at lightning speed. Long after he 
was out of sight we could hear him whiz.” 
The jackass-rabbit’s ears are, in fact, much longer than his head. Flap¬ 
ping among the stunted vegetation of the plains, as their owner covers the 
country with a series of prodigious bounds, these ears might be, and in fact 
often are, mistaken for a bird in flight, skimming along near the surface 
of the ground. When frightened, however, the Texas hare, as it is some¬ 
times called, lays the ears close back, brings its body into the form of a 
A JACK RABBIT IN THE SAGE BRUSH. 
semicircle, and clears the flora of its habitat with flying leaps that bear it 
in safety from the wolf, or even from the swifter hawk. 
Its speed, which is unparalleled among hares, is its only means of safety, 
as it seeks no other hiding place or protection than a little scratch in the 
earth, or the shade afforded by a sage-bush. 
With the exception of one remarkable Indian species all the members 
of the family are very much alike in appearance in coloration; the usual 
tint of the fur on the upper parts being a mixture of gray and reddish 
brown,. although in some cases the red, and in others the gray, tends to 
predominate. This coloration harmonizes well with the general tint of 
