FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 30, 1909 
092 
they become, and so rapid is their increase when 
a region has been settled by man and the natural 
enemies of the rabbits destroyed or driven off, 
that the aggregate losses from their depreda¬ 
tions over the whole country must reach a vast 
sum. The enormous losses that may be caused 
by rabbits has been shown by the experience of 
the Australian colonies, where, at times, agri¬ 
culture and even stock raising has been put an 
end to by the ravages of the imported rabbit. 
In America rabbits are found over the entire 
breadth of the two continents and from 83 de¬ 
grees north latitude in Northern Greenland, to 
40 degrees south latitude in Northern Patagonia. 
Of the ninety-seven species here described, 
forty-eight have their ranges wholly north of 
the northern boundary of Mexico, while thirty- 
four live south of that line and fourteen occupy 
territory on both sides of it. 
Our rabbits are divided into the principal 
groups, one containing the Arctic and varying 
hares and the jack rabbits, the other the cotton¬ 
tails, brush rabbits, swamp rabbits and wood 
rabbits. There are two odd little short-eared 
rabbits found in the West and Southwest which 
fall without these groups. 
Years ago we used to be told that all the 
American rabbits were hares, if such a state¬ 
ment may be allowed, and it was said that all 
hares live in forms and bring forth their young 
provided with a coat of hair and with their eyes 
open, while rabbits live in burrows and bring 
forth their young naked and with eyes closed. 
It was said that all the American Leporidce be¬ 
longed in the first class. It appears, however, 
that the statement that all American rabbits 
bring forth their young furred and with open 
eyes is not true. Mr. Nelson shows by the testi¬ 
mony of several observers that, in three species 
of cottontail rabbits at least, the young are born 
naked and blind, and it is a fair assumption 
that the young of other members of the genus 
SylviJagus are brought forth in the same con¬ 
dition. If this definition of the difference be¬ 
tween hares and rabbits is correct, it is evident 
that our cottontails are really rabbits. 
Since rabbits are more or less crepuscular or 
nocturnal in habit, some difficulty is found in 
observing their mode of life in all respects. 
While, perhaps, none of them actually burrow, 
some species commonly inhabit the deserted bur¬ 
rows, of other animals, which they may enlarge. 
The forms so often occupied are usually in the 
shelter of dense grass or in thick underbrush. 
The females of many species of cottontails 
build warm nests for their tiny young, lining 
the nest with hair from their bodies. 
It has long been known that in the North jack 
rabbits, varying hares and cottontails, after be¬ 
coming exceedingly abundant, are likely to dis¬ 
appear within a year or two, apparently being 
cut off by some epidemic disease. E. A. Preble, 
during his exploration in the upper Mackenzie 
River in 1904, found the hares there exceed¬ 
ingly numerous, and dying in great numbers. 
The residents there believe that these epidemics 
occur about every seven years, while, accord¬ 
ing to Bendire, the people of Southern Idaho 
believe that such an epidemic occurs among 
jack rabbits every five or six years. Parasites 
of one kind and another are found under the 
skin of jack rabbits in California and elsewhere 
and as has often been pointed out, horn-like 
excrescences sometimes grow out from the skin, 
giving the animal an extraordinary appearance. 
The 300 pages of this very useful volume 
are full of material of the greatest interest to 
naturalists and to sportsmen, and Mr. Nelson 
has performed a valuable service to science and 
to sport by this careful and accurate revision of 
the rabbits of North America. While much of 
the volume is strictly scientific, much of it also 
may be read with the greatest interest and profit 
by the layman. 
It is illustrated by twelve plates—of which 
No. 1 is a frontispiece, which shows a most 
curious and interesting example of directive 
coloration—and by about twenty line drawings 
and'maps, which last show the distribution of 
various - species in North America. 
Breeding Wild Geese by Wholesale. 
More and more attention is constantly being 
paid to the domestication and rearing in cap¬ 
tivity of various forms of wild birds, and it has 
been found that many species consent to nest 
and hatch their young under unnatural condi¬ 
tions whose domestication would hardly have 
been expected. In the New York Zoological So¬ 
ciety’s Bulletin for October, C. Wm. Beebe gives 
a list of over one hundred species of wild birds 
bred in captivity in the Eastern United States. 
As might naturally be expected, most of these 
belong to the gallinaceous, the pigeon or the duck 
group, but there are some very surprising names 
included in the list; among them the bald eagle 
and the Florida cormorant. 
Most of us recall having for many years heard 
of a wild goose farm on Chincoteague Island, 
Va., and in this same number of the Bulletin 
Mr. Beebe gives an account of this, which our 
readers will be glad to see. He says: 
Industries connected with semi-wild birds are 
becoming more and more important every day. 
We have large pheasant hatcheries which have 
been installed in many States during the last few 
years, while the providing of suitable nesting 
sites for eider ducks has been in practice for 
many years in different places. As far as I 
know the only successful example of raising 
Canada wild geese for their feathers is to be 
found on the estate of J. W. Whealton on a 
good-sized island off the coast of Virginia, close 
to the Maryland line. 
Chincoteague Island is about seven by two and 
a half miles in size, with a soil which is sandy 
but fertile. Low ridges run parallel to the coast, 
separated from each other by marshes, while a 
central depression filled with salt water extends 
transversely across the center of the island. 
There is considerable scrub pine and cedar 
growth with some underbrush, the trees and 
bushes being found mostly upon the ridges. 
Much of the island, however, is open and marshy. 
Mink are very abundant and destructive, and 
while foxes are also common they seem to do 
little harm. 
More than fifty years ago Mr. Whealton ob¬ 
tained a pair of wing-tipped wild geese. These, 
however, showing no signs of breeding, he dis¬ 
posed of and purchased a second pair which had 
been raised in captivity. These were the nucleus 
of his present flock which now numbers about 
450 birds. There has been no inbreeding, as neyr 
blood has been constantly added by the capture 
of wing-tipped wild ganders every year or two. 
At times wild birds have come in from the bay 
with the tame ones and fed with them for sev¬ 
eral days. Great effort is made to get the big 
leaders of the flocks. Wild ganders breed at 
once, but it is years before the wild geese will 
consent to lay. Mr. Whealton’s geese are divided 
into flocks of from four to fifty birds, running 
wild on this and several adjacent islands. All 
are pinioned when small goslings. 
There is considerable population on Chinco¬ 
teague, but the geese do no damage, and the 
fact that they are all the property of Mr. Wheal¬ 
ton is known to everyone. The geese rarely die 
from disease, although a few succumb to pneu¬ 
monia. Negroes steal a small number, but the 
greatest loss is from dogs which kill quantities 
of the geese every year. In 1908 no fewer than 
twenty-six dogs were killed in the very act of 
slaughtering the geese. 
The geese feed on the island in summer in 
small gangs, but in winter they spend most of 
their time in Chincoteague Bay, feeding on eel 
grass and sea lettuce. They become very fat on 
this diet and in addition are fed a little grain 
now and then to keep them tame. They are also 
supplied with fresh water throughout the winter. 
In the spring, on one of the first warm days in 
March, the Canada geese pair off, gathering near 
the large breeding pastures, when they are let 
in, one pair at a time. There is a great deal of 
quarreling among them and a few pairs are al¬ 
ways broken up. 
The geese are grain fed for a short time be¬ 
fore laying, all through incubation and until they 
are set at liberty with their young. The birds 
are never infested with lice, and it is thought 
that their feathers contain some quality which 1 
keeps these pests out. 
The breeding paddock incloses about twenty-i 
five or thirty acres and is surrounded by a board 
fence about three feet in height. About seventy- 
five pairs of birds breed here and raise from two' 
to three hundred young annually. There are a 
few small fresh water marshes in the paddock, 
and where these occur numerous hummocks are 
thrown up, which soon become covered with 
grass and low brush. These tiny islands are the' 
favorite nesting sites and five to seven eggs arc 
laid on these nesting hummocks. When the 
young hatch, they are pinioned and turned into 
another pasture with their parents. If the goose] 
is removed, the gander will rear the young suc¬ 
cessfully. But if the gander is killed by acci¬ 
dent or sent away, the female will not or can¬ 
not rear her brood alone. 
Some of the birds are almost fifty years old 
They breed better when thirty than when ter 
years of age. A few individuals never mate 
In the spring one familiar with the appearance] 
of the birds can select those which will lay, b> 
the condition of fatty deposits visible under the 
skin. If considerable yellow fat is visible about 
the abdomen, there is no likelihood of the b:rc 
laying eggs that season. 
When the goslings reach the age of aboul 
one month they are given their liberty. The)' 
usually do not breed until three years old. Eacf 
pair of adult birds mates for life and invariable 
returns to the nest which it had occupied the 
previous spring. The geese will not as a rule 
allow other pairs to nest within fifty to one hun 
dred yards. The ganders are very erratic in thi: 
respect, some being especially savage, while 
others do not object to newcomers founding 
