The Cottontail. 
Atlantic, Iowa, Feb. 16 . —Editor Forest and 
Stream: The rabbits, including both cottontails 
and jacks, are among the most numerous rep¬ 
resentatives of the mammals in North America. 
1 imid, defenseless and with innumerable 
enemies constantly pursuing them, it is sur¬ 
prising that they hold their own. Except in 
the vicinity of the large cities, in most local¬ 
ities they are apparently increasing in numbers. 
W ith so many enemies they would be shortly 
exterminated were it not for the remarkable 
rate of increase. 
Although so abundant, rabbits are among the 
last of American mammals to be carefully 
studied, and much yet remains to be learned 
concerning them. When Dr. J. A. Allen pub¬ 
lished his monograph of the rabbits, in “North 
American Rodentia,” in 1S77, only eighteen 
species were recognized, while Nelson in his 
Rabbits of North America,” published in 1909, 
described ninety-seven species and sub-species. 
Although jack rabbits are nowhere common 
in Iowa, three species are probably represented 
within the State: the Minnesota varying hare, 
the white-tailed jack rabbit or prairie hare, and 
the great plains jack rabbit. Of the cottontails, 
the one shown in the picture, Mearn’s cotton¬ 
tail ( Sylvilagus doridanus meanisi ) is most com¬ 
mon. There are two and possibly three other 
species likely to be met with here. 
Cottontails are very abundant in this part of 
the State, and in winter cause serious damage 
to young fruit trees. Several washes have been 
recommended by various fruit growers to pre¬ 
vent injury, but they are of little value, except 
as a temporary expedient. I have found fresh 
blood to be more effective than any other wash. 
The best protection, however, is a wrapper of 
wire screen or tin placed around the body of 
the tree. Not only do rabbits girdle young 
apple and pear trees, but one winter they girdled 
almost every blackberry cane in my garden. 
Three hunters killed sixty cottontails in one 
favorable afternoon on 100 acres of land about 
my home, and continued the slaughter inter¬ 
mittently for weeks, getting as high as thirty in 
a day, on other occasions. Even then there was 
no apparent diminution in the number of the 
little animals about. Although not always as 
abundant as the winter above mentioned, they 
are always very numerous and the guns and 
dogs do not seem to check them as effectively 
as the disappearing predaceous birds and mam¬ 
mals have done in the past. Although I find 
no joy in hunting with a gun, there are plenty 
who do, and bunny is hunted mercilessly. 
The mother makes a warm nest in a small 
depression in the surface of the ground, where 
she places her young. In the main it seems to 
be composed of fur from her own body, and is 
hidden very skilfully. Even when the location 
is known, one must look carefully to find it. 
Although some naturalists have stated that the 
young of these rabbits are born with their eyes 
open, they are unquestionably mistaken. The 
young are helpless and blind when born and 
remain in the nest for some time. Soon after 
the eyes are open they are likely to leave the 
nest, especially if disturbed, but continue to re- 
cei\e the care of the mother. I have caught the 
young ones in the grass and have been surprised 
at the response of the mother to their cry. She 
came instantly, but her timidity overcame her 
anxiety, so that she ran away again. 
Although extremely timid, and offering no de¬ 
fense to an attack by other animals, they fight 
desperately among themselves, at least in cap¬ 
tivity. At present we have a number of adults 
confined in wire pens that were captured in box 
traps. Now and then an individual is very ugly 
A RABBIT TRAP. 
MEARNS COTTONTAIL. 
with its fellows, and insists on tearing their fur 
and chewing their ears. A number have been 
killed in these scrimmages and one with both 
ears chewed off still lives. A short time ago 
we caught in a box trap a specimen of the 
Nebraska cottontail (.S'. f. similis ) with holes 
in both ears. While this indicated a similar 
fight in the open, it is of course possible that 
these may have resulted from other causes than 
rabbits’ teeth. 
These animals readily enter traps in cold 
weather, apparently in search of shelter. I 
have often noticed that in mild weather there 
will be few if any rabbits caught, while when 
the mornings are crisp and frosty, many will be 
taken. They apparently enter traps without bait 
as readily as those that are baited. Traps that 
have been successfully used, however, are more 
likely to make a catch than those which never have 
had rabbits in. Some trappers make a practice 
of confining a live rabbit in each new trap for 
a few minutes before it is set. The accompany¬ 
ing photo shows a box trap easily made and 
which is in common use. The picture shows 
the construction in detail. It is made from inch 
boards six inches wide and about two feet long. 
A hole large enough to admit the notched 
trigger is bored about four inches from the 
back end. The rabbit crowding into the trap 
releases the trigger and the weight of the door 
closes the entrance. Any normal boy greatly 
enjoys trapping rabbits. A good many morn¬ 
ings this winter our eldest son, not yet seven 
years of age, has dressed and trudged off to 
the woods as soon as it was getting light, to see 
his rabbit traps. In many localities in the West 
theie is a ready market for rabbits for ship¬ 
ment to the cities, St. Louis especially. Many 
a boy gets his winter pocket money from trap¬ 
ping rabbits. In winters, when snow lies deep, 
they commonly make burrows in the snow for 
protection. Excepting in extreme weather they 
seem to seek no shelter other than that afforded 
by a bunch of grass, unless hard pressed by 
dogs or other enemies. Occasionally a small 
spotted skunk is caught in the same trap with 
a rabbit, apparently following bunny into his 
retreat, both being caught together. Twice has 
that happened with us this winter. Those con¬ 
fined in the yards seldom take to the burrow 
provided by burying a nail keg, excepting when 
persons or animals come near. 
That the rabbit is an intelligent animal will 
not be doubted by any hunter who has seen 
his clever tricks in throwing dogs off his track. 
The Cherokee Indians, who lived in close con¬ 
tact with animal life, recognized the cleverness 
of the rabbit, and the animal figures in very 
many of their myths, always as a trickster or 
deceiver. Many of-those myths, of which the 
following is a sample, have been gathered by 
James Mooney and preserved in the publica¬ 
tions of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 
“Some wolves once caught the rabbit and 
were going to eat him when he asked leave to 
show them a new dance he was practicing. 
They knew that the rabbit was a great song 
leader, and they wanted to learn the latest 
dance, so they agreed and made a ring about 
him while he got ready. He patted his feet 
and began to dance around in a circle, singing: 
On the edge of the field I dance about— 
Ila nia lil lil! Ha nia lil lil! 
“Now,” said the rabbit, “when I sing ‘on the 
edge of the field,’ I dance that way”—and he 
danced over in that direction—“and when I 
sing ‘lil lil,’ you must all stamp your feet 
hard.” The wolves thought it fine. He began 
another round singing the same song, and 
danced a little nearer to the field, while the 
wolves all stamped their feet. He sang louder 
and louder and danced nearer and nearer to the 
field, until at the fourth song, when the wolves 
were stamping as hard as they could and think¬ 
ing only of the song, he made one jump and 
was off through the long grass. They were, 
after him at once, but he ran for a hollow 
stump and climbed up on the inside. When the 
wolves got there, one of them put his head 
inside to look up, but the rabbit spit in his eye, 
so that he had to pull his head out again, and 
they went away with the rabbit still in the 
stump.” Frank C. Pellett. 
