THE JACK RABBIT 
59 
on any animal. Why, they were that long, Uncle 
Ely!” He measured halfway up his arm. 
“And they stood up high!” Ginger added. “Good' 
ness, what does he do with such ears? And how fast 
he can run!” 
“He listens for danger with them,” Uncle Ely ex' 
plained. “He can hear you long before you come 
near him. I am surprised that we got as close to him 
as we did. Probably that was because we had been 
very quiet.” 
“I thought at first it was a rabbit,” said Buck, “but 
he seemed too big for a rabbit. Could he have been 
a giant rabbit, Uncle Ely?” 
“That’s not a bad guess, Buck. As a matter of fact, 
he was a kind of giant rabbit and, strictly speaking, 
jack rabbits are hares and not rabbits. He is a jack 
rabbit, but I’m sure his ears weren’t quite as long as 
you thought. I have seen hundreds of them, been 
very close to them. Their ears are about as long as 
my hand—six or eight inches, perhaps.” 
“They look longer.” 
“Yes, they do. But a jack rabbit’s legs are more 
important than his ears, I think. With his leaping 
and running, he can flee from dogs, wolves, foxes, 
lions, anything that might give chase. I have seen 
