Chapter VI: Part 6

This group is represented in limited areas on our southern border by two species. One of these, the Gailliard jack rabbit (_Lepus gailliardi_), occurs on the grassy plains of extreme southwestern New Mexico and is succeeded by other white-sided species southward across the Mexican tableland and through interior Oaxaca to the Pacific coast, on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The other species, the antelope jack rabbit, occupies a considerable area in southwestern Arizona, and with its geographic races ranges southward through the coastal plains of Sonora and Sinaloa to northern Tepic.

All jack rabbits are more or less closely related to the Old World hares, the term “rabbit” having been so generally misapplied to them by the early settlers in the western United States that the name is now fixed by current usage. In Mexico and among the Mexicans of our southwestern border the proper distinction is made and the jack rabbit is termed _liebre_, or hare, and cottontail is called _conejo_, or rabbit.

The white-sided species are more widely differentiated from their Old World relatives than the other jack rabbits and are the southernmost representatives of the true hares in America, reaching their limit in the tropics a little beyond the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

The extension of the white on the sides of these species assists in producing one of the most extraordinary examples of directive coloration known among mammals. I had the pleasure of discovering this one day in May, 1895, when hunting on horseback over the grassy plain bordering the Pacific coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. As I rode slowly along, a big jack rabbit hopped deliberately from its form in the grass a few yards away, and by the contraction of a special set of muscles along the back drew the dark-colored dorsal area forward and together so that it formed only a narrow band on the middle of the back, with a corresponding extension of the white area on the rump and sides until, as the animal moved diagonally away, it looked almost entirely white.

At a distance of fifty or sixty yards it came to a stop, and expanded and contracted the dark dorsal area, thus producing a “flashing” effect with the changing area of white on the sides and rump. This solved the riddle of the mirror-like white flashes I had often seen as jack rabbits on the tableland had dashed away in the brilliant sunshine. The same habit of “flashing” the white was afterwards observed in the species of southwestern New Mexico and southwestern Arizona, demonstrating the appropriateness of the name, “antelope jack rabbit,” given them by the ranchmen.

Formerly the antelope jack rabbit of Arizona was common on the plains about Tucson, where many were shot for rifle practice. They are now comparatively scarce in that district, and are never so excessively abundant as the common species of the West now and then becomes. They have an extraordinary appearance as, with their great ears erect, they stand poised on their long, thin legs. When alarmed, they leap away with amazing celerity in long, high bounds. They are usually much more shy and alert than the common jack rabbits and at times are far more difficult to stalk than antelope. A peculiarly appropriate setting to this remarkable species is found in the strange and wonderful growth of giant cactuses, yuccas, creosote bushes, fouquerias, palo verde, and other desert vegetation of the plains in Arizona and Sonora.

Like other hares, the antelope jack rabbits occupy forms under bushes or in the shelter of little patches of coarse vegetation. The only exception to this rule I have seen was west of the city of Guadalajara, on the Mexican tableland. There one summer day, in the midst of a lovely open valley covered with short, velvety green grass and dotted with scattered acacia bushes, a caracara eagle suddenly swooped down upon a young white-sided jack rabbit. In mortal terror the little beast dashed away at great speed, the caracara casting at it repeatedly from a height of fifteen or twenty feet and each time striking the ground just behind. The young animal ran not less than five hundred yards, straight for a little bush on a small bank, where it vanished as by magic.

The caracara was close behind and, alighting, ran round and round the trunk of the bush, craning its neck and apparently as surprised as myself at this sudden disappearance. Riding over to investigate, I found, partly concealed by coarse grass, the entrance of a burrow large enough to admit an adult jack rabbit. It extended almost horizontally into the bank for about eighteen inches, and then, turning abruptly to the left, ended in a rounded chamber some fifteen inches in diameter, in which the young jack rabbit lay snugly ensconced. It appeared altogether probable that this burrow had been made by the old jack rabbit as a shelter for her young, one of which in its extreme need had again sought asylum there.

White-sided jack rabbits are frequently found in pairs, occupying forms in close proximity to one another. More rarely several may be found in a small area. When driven from the forms, they often run in a wide circle, and in the course of half an hour or more may be detected returning slyly and watchfully from a direction nearly opposite to that in which they departed.

THE CALIFORNIA JACK RABBIT

(=Lepus californicus= and its subspecies)

(_For illustration, see page 507_)

The common hares, or gray-sided “jack rabbits” of the Western States, are among our best known and most interesting mammals. They are characterized by long, thin necks, long ears tipped with black, long legs, grayish sides differing but little from the color of the back, and a rather long tail, black on its upper side and dingy gray below.

They are abundant and generally distributed over a vast and mainly treeless area in middle North America extending from western Missouri and eastern Texas to the Pacific coast, and from the border of South Dakota and the Columbia River Valley of Washington south over the tableland of Mexico and throughout the peninsula of Lower California. Within this region they range from sea level up to an altitude of over 9,000 feet. In the North they experience severe winters with much snow, but never show any winter whitening of their furry coat, as do more northern hares.

The gray-sided hares over all this extended range belong to a single species, typified by the California jack rabbit. The area thus occupied includes many different climatic and other physical conditions, from the sweeping grassy plains of Kansas to the juniper and pine dotted plateaus of the Rocky Mountain region, the foggy coast of California, the hot cactus-grown deserts of the Southwest, and the cool elevations of the Mexican tableland.

This varying environment has worked on the plastic organization of the species and modified it into a considerable number of well-marked geographic races which together make up the gray-sided group of jack rabbits, in contrast with the white-sided group already described. Some of the races are very dissimilar in color, but each merges imperceptibly into its neighboring races, and the group thus forms an unbroken chain of subspecies.

Like other hares, the jack rabbits are both diurnal and nocturnal in habits. They do not burrow, but make forms among dense growths of grass or weeds, or under bushes, where they lie hidden. It is a question whether they have more than one litter a season, although it is known that in some parts of their range young are born at all times throughout the spring and summer. From one to six are produced at a time, fully clothed in fur and with their eyes open. Within a few days they leave the “form” and run about like little furry balls. Even at this early period they are amazingly alert and skillful in evading capture by quickly doubling and zigzagging when pursued.

The cat does not show its claws in the track. In walking, the hind foot is set exactly in the track of the front foot; this perfect register offers many advantages and makes for a silent tread. The track of the cat will probably be noticed more than that of any other animal, owing to the large numbers of them in every locality.]

Throughout its range the gray-sided jack rabbit is preyed upon by a host of enemies, including wolves, coyotes, wildcats, eagles, and several species of hawks and owls. As a result it has become extremely cunning and watchful. It is a beautiful sight to observe the cautious grace with which one that suspects danger but thinks itself unobserved will quietly move out of its form, pause like a statue for a few seconds, then raise its body into a sitting posture and look keenly about, its great upstanding ears turning sensitively to one side and the other, delicately testing the air for sound waves, which may spell approaching peril.

If not alarmed it may then move slowly along by a series of easy little hops, occasionally varied by the single-footed gait of most other mammals. At such times the ears are often raised and lowered as though worked by some mechanism. If the rabbit becomes alarmed, however, it leaps away in quick, springy and graceful bounds, now and then making a high soaring leap as if to command a better view.

These occasional high leaps mark the first stages of alarm. In greater stress, when pursued by a coyote or other swift-footed enemy, the jack rabbit indulges in no such showy performances, but gets down to serious work, and developing marvelous action in a continuous series of rapid, low stretching leaps, with ears lying flat along the shoulders, it skims over the ground almost as swiftly as a bird. Coursing jack rabbits with greyhounds was for many years a favorite sport in different parts of the West. No other dog has much chance for success in the open pursuit of these animals.

The tracks of the western jack rabbit resemble those of the cottontail (see page 492), but the feet are seldom paired; a typical set is seen in the lower left-hand corner. The bounds cover 10, 12, or even 15 feet each. The tail is held down, so that it leaves a mark in the snow between each bound. Sometimes the animal makes a spy-hop--that is, hops up high to look around. This is seen in the track.]

Ordinarily jack rabbits are mute, but when wounded and caught they not infrequently utter a series of long-drawn wailing shrieks which are movingly expressive of terror and pain.

Since the settlement of the Western States numberless predatory animals have been killed and at the same time the cultivation of the soil has produced a dependable increase in the food supply. These changes have resulted in the sporadic increase of jack rabbits in many parts of their range, from Texas to Oregon, until at times they have become a serious menace to agriculture.

During such periods of abundance they invade fields and devastate grain, forage crops, vineyards, and young orchards. In places they sometimes actually destroy entire crops and force settlers to abandon their locations. In winter they swarm about haystacks and destroy many tons of hay. Depredations of this character were committed by them on a considerable scale during 1916 in parts of Oregon, Idaho, and Utah.

During the early development of the San Joaquin Valley, California, jack rabbits became such an intolerable pest that great community drives were organized. Large woven wire corrals with wing fences leading away several miles from the entrance were built on the open plains. The occasions of the drives were made public holidays through all the surrounding region, and people gathered sometimes to the number of from 5,000 to 8,000. A great line of beaters was formed, miles in length, and the jack rabbits were driven between wing fences into corrals. Four such drives in Fresno County in the spring of 1892 resulted in the destruction of 40,000 jack rabbits, one drive netting more than 20,000 animals.

At this time the level floor of the San Joaquin Valley was crossed by numberless well-worn rabbit trails six or eight inches broad and one or two inches deep, extending in long straight lines sometimes for miles. On approaching a patch of large weeds one often saw twenty or thirty jack rabbits dash out and, after hopping away a short distance, sit with upstanding ears to look curiously at the intruder.

It is a general rule that when any species of animal becomes extremely numerous it loses its ordinary wariness and, conversely, when its numbers are materially reduced its wariness is greatly increased. The periods of abundance of jack rabbits usually extend through several years until, at the height of their increase, a contagious malady suddenly sweeps them away almost to the point of extinction, as in the case of the varying hare. A period of years follows during which their numbers are slowly recovered.

Jack rabbits are specially adapted for life on great plains, where speed and the ability to subsist on almost any form of vegetation are prime qualities. They are as grotesquely characteristic of the Western States as the kangaroos were of Australia, and have entered largely into the literature of the region they occupy.

=THE VARYING HARES= (=Lepus americanus= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 507_)

The varying hares, white rabbits, or snowshoe rabbits, as they are known, form a small group of closely related species and geographic races of hares peculiar to northern North America. They sometimes attain a weight of five pounds and are about half the size of the arctic hares, which they resemble in form, except that they are more heavily built and have proportionately shorter legs and larger hind feet.

With a single exception they become white in winter and change to dusky or brownish in summer. The molt from the brown summer coat to the white winter one occurs with the arrival of winter snows, the exact time varying according to the season, the reverse change in spring being governed in a similar way by the disappearance of the snow. In the southern part of their range the change to the white winter coat is less complete than in the North. There has been much controversy over the manner of this change in color, some maintaining that on the approach of winter the hairs turn white with the first snow. It has been definitely proved, however, that both seasonal changes are due to molt.

The Washington hare (_Lepus washingtoni_), which remains brown throughout the year, is the exception to the rule of white winter coats in this group of hares. It lives in the cool, dense forests of the humid coast belt of Washington and adjacent part of British Columbia, where the snowfall does not affect its pelage.

In winter the large hind feet of the varying hares and their long, spreading toes are entirely covered with a heavy coat of hair, forming broad snowshoe-like pads, which enable their possessors to move about freely over the soft snow, a peculiarity that has given rise to one of the names in common use.

In cool, forested regions varying hares range from Maine and extreme eastern Canada, including Newfoundland, to the Pacific coast, and from the stunted bushes bordering the northern limit of trees south to the northern border of the United States and beyond, following the higher Alleghenies to West Virginia, the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico, and well down the Sierra Nevada in California.

As in the case of other species, these hares make “forms” in which they lie by day, for they are mainly nocturnal in habits. The mating season occurs in early spring, when the males become very restless, several sometimes congregating in the same vicinity and occasionally fighting and chasing one another about. At this time, as well as at other seasons, snowshoe rabbits have a habit of thumping rapidly on the ground, making a dull sound audible for some distance. This is probably done with the hind feet, as is known to be the case with the European rabbit.

The thumping is apparently a signal and may be a part of the mating display, but is also used for warning purposes. Hunters in northern Canada call these rabbits by making a harsh squeaking noise with their lips. Sometimes they become so eager and excited on hearing this call that with odd little grunting sounds they come bounding close up to the hunter.

The young, varying from two to seven, are born in nests made of dry leaves, grasses, and other suitable vegetation, warmly lined with hair from the mother’s body, and usually hidden under brush or in dense vegetation. The young, which have their eyes open and are fully furred at birth, within a few days leave the nest and move freely about. Although the mother snowshoe rabbit will defend her young at first even at the risk of her life, when they are half grown she leaves them to shift for themselves. Young hares of various ages when caught often utter shrill squealing cries of fright and the older animals when wounded and caught sometimes do the same.

Perhaps through living so constantly in low ground, among swamps and along streams, varying hares become less averse to entering water than most of their kind. In the delta of the Yukon River I saw many places where they had crossed small streams in spring, their wet tracks entering and leaving the water, thus furnishing unmistakable evidence. Curiously enough, when caught by a flood they will take refuge on stumps or other support and often remain to starve rather than swim ashore.

In summer, owing to their nocturnal habits and the dense thickets they inhabit, varying hares are rarely seen unless they are unusually plentiful. In winter their presence is known by their conspicuous tracks, leading in every direction through their haunts. A single animal will in one night so thoroughly track the snow in a patch of woods it gives the impression that several must have been there.

In river bottoms, among densely wooded swamps, these rabbits frequently make definite beaten runways in the snow; runways are also made through thickets in their summer haunts. This habit renders it easy to snare them, and enormous numbers are thus captured every winter.

They feed on a variety of small herbage in summer and in winter depend on buds, twigs, and the bark of shrubs and small trees. They are specially fond of willows, and their winter distribution in many districts is governed by the abundance of willow thickets.

Varying hares are one of the most important mammals of the northern fur country. They are generally distributed and exist in such numbers that they are an important source of food supply both to the Indians and to such predatory birds and mammals as the great horned and snowy owls, the goshawk, gyrfalcon, lynx, fox, ermine, fisher, and others. The skins are also used by the Indians for robes.

The great size of the feet from which the creature is named is a strong feature of the track, distinguishing it from that of the cottontail and others (see pages 489 and 507).]

Under favorable conditions they steadily increase until they become enormously plentiful over great areas. After this swarming abundance continues for several seasons it reaches a maximum, and then, as in the case of many other mammals when similarly overabundant, a mysterious malady suddenly attacks and sweeps them off, until within a year or two they become rare over the entire area. The people of the fur country believe these changes in numbers run in cycles of about seven years each.

As the hares increase in numbers some of the birds and mammals which prey upon them increase proportionately. This is specially marked with the big northern lynxes. The skins of varying hares are gathered and sent to the London fur market with other furs, including those of lynxes. In the records of sales of the Hudson’s Bay Company there are direct increases of the numbers of Canada lynx skins sold corresponding with the increases in the sales of varying hare skins. As the number of hare skins abruptly decreases following the outbreak of epidemics among them, there are correspondingly abrupt decreases in the numbers of lynx skins sold.

This correlation is shown in the records extending back many years and illustrates the interdependence in nature between the various forms of animal life. The far-reaching tragic effect of the sudden disappearance of the snowshoe rabbits is not confined to the wild habitants of the forest, as it has not infrequently brought starvation and death into many lonely Indian lodges in the great northern wilderness.

=THE ARCTIC HARE= (=Lepus arcticus= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 510_)

Many parts of the northernmost circumpolar lands are occupied by large hares, which attain a weight of more than ten pounds. They are about the size of large jack rabbits, but are more heavily proportioned, with much shorter ears and shorter, stronger legs. There are several species and geographic races of these animals, all of which are snowy white in winter except for a small black tip on each ear. In summer the southern arctic hares change to a nearly uniform dull iron gray or grayish brown. The northernmost animals of Ellesmere Land and north Greenland, where the summer is brief and severe arctic conditions prevail, retain their white coat throughout the year.

In keeping with the cold climate of their territory, the furry coat of the arctic hares is long and thick, especially in winter, when the ears, legs, and even the soles of +he feet, as well as the body, are heavily furred. The coats of the hares of north Greenland and adjacent region are so heavy and fleecelike that during the spring molt they come off in felted patches as the new coat is assumed, giving the hares a curiously ragged appearance.

In the region between the areas in which the summer coat remains wholly white and where it is completely changed to grayish, there is a gradual transition, with the lessening severity of the climate, through every intermediate degree between the two. As in the case of the snowshoe rabbit, the large hind feet and long spreading toes of its big northern relative are so heavily covered with hair that they form broad fluffy pads, which enable the hares to travel lightly over the arctic snowfields.

The distribution of arctic hares is confined to the barrens or tundras beyond the limit of trees. They range practically to the land’s end of northern Greenland and Ellesmere Land. To the southward in North America they range down the coast of Labrador and across to Newfoundland, where they are limited to the open barrens. They also occur along the shores of Hudson Bay and follow the tundras bordering Bering Sea to the peninsula of Alaska.

In Ellesmere Land they are reported to be extraordinarily numerous at times in certain little valleys, and the fur traders on the coast south of the Yukon Delta informed me of similar gatherings in spring on gently sloping hillsides in that region. Photographs taken in Ellesmere Land show many of these hares scattered over a small area, each crouched in a compact form and all heading in the same direction to face the wind. Such gatherings, at least those in Alaska, occur during the mating period, after which the animals scatter over the area they occupy.

An account of the big northern hares would be incomplete without reference to the white-tailed jack rabbit, the largest of all American hares and a near relative of the arctic species. It attains a weight of twelve pounds or more and appears like a giant of its kind. It has longer legs than the arctic hare and a longer tail. In summer it is grayish or buffy, with a conspicuous pure white tail. Throughout most of its range in winter it becomes pure white except the black tips to the ears, but near the southern border the change to white is not so complete as in the North. The distribution of the white-tailed jack rabbit extends from Minnesota to the Cascade Mountains and from the Saskatchewan River, in Alberta, south to southern Colorado.

Arctic hares have from one to seven young in a litter each spring. Owing to the climatic conditions under which they exist, it is doubtful if more than a single litter is born each year.

The manner in which animal life adapts itself to its environment is beautifully illustrated by the arctic hares of north Greenland and Ellesmere Land. There the conditions are rigorously arctic and continuous winter night extends through a period of several months. In all this region the scanty and dwarfed vegetation is covered with snow and ice the larger part of the year. The hares living there are, with little question, a geographic race of those living farther south, but have developed into larger and stronger animals, with heavier fur, to meet the sterner conditions of life.

Their claws are much larger and heavier, so that they may dig the snow from the hidden herbage. Most marvelous of all, the anterior ends of both jaws are lengthened and the incisors set so that they project and meet at an acute angle, thus serving, tweezerlike, more readily to pick out the lowly vegetation imbedded in the snow.

In most parts of their range arctic hares are scarce and rarely encountered. Each winter during my residence on the coast of Bering Sea the Eskimos killed only a few individuals. They were shy and watchful and the hunters sometimes followed one on snowshoes all day over the tundra without securing it. In the high North they appear to be more numerous in places, judging from the number killed for food by members of polar expeditions. Their flesh is excellent, but a little dry. Their natural enemies include wolves, foxes, weasels, gyrfalcons, and snowy owls, all of which share their desolate haunts and join in destroying them.

The winter skins of arctic hares have a beautiful snowy white pelage, which make warm garments and sleeping robes for the North, but are too delicate to withstand much service.

The large set of four tracks at the top gives the maximum possible of detail, which is very rarely seen. The lower figure at the right-hand corner is a typical track (_tt_). At the set marked “sitting” the tail mark is seen, and in this only are the fore-feet tracks ahead of the hind tracks. The cottontail has five toes on the front feet, but only four ever show in the track (see page 510).]

=THE COTTONTAIL RABBITS= (=Sylvilagus floridanus= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 510_)

North America has several species of hares, but no typical representative of the European rabbit. The American cottontails and their near relatives, the brush rabbits and others, combine characteristics of both the hares and rabbits, but are most like the rabbits, of which they appear to form aberrant groups.

The cottontails are distinctly smaller than most of the American hares and average from two to three pounds in weight. They are otherwise contrasted with the hares by their short ears, proportionately shorter and smaller legs and feet, and by the fluffy snow-white underside of the tail, which shows so conspicuously as they run that it has given them their distinctive name.

The American mammals to which the term “rabbit” may be properly applied include not only the cottontails, but numerous other species closely similar in form and general appearance, but lacking the cottony white tail. As a group, these rabbits have a far greater distribution in America than the hares. They range from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific and from the southern border of Canada south through Central and South America to Argentina. Their vertical distribution extends from sea level to above timberline, attaining an altitude of more than 14,000 feet on Mount Orizaba, Mexico.

In the United States cottontails are so numerous and generally distributed that they are well known to nearly every one. They inhabit all kinds of country, from the deciduous forests of the Eastern States to the grassy or brush-grown plains and pine-clad mountain slopes of the West and the sun-scorched deserts of the Southwest. As a result of this extended distribution and the variety of conditions in the areas occupied, these rabbits include numerous species and geographic races, which in some instances differ greatly in appearance.

Cottontails are especially common about the brushy borders of cultivated lands throughout the country, and in fertile brush-grown areas of foothills, valleys, and river bottoms of the West. They are mainly nocturnal, and in areas where there is an abundance of natural cover in the way of brushy thickets and dense grass commonly make concealed “forms” in which they lie safely hidden.

In areas where shelter is represented by scattered bushes and a comparatively thin growth of other vegetation they generally occupy burrows in the ground. These may be holes deserted by badgers or prairie-dogs or dug by themselves under a rock or other object. Hollow logs or natural cavities and crevices among the rocks are also frequented. When pursued by dogs, hares as a rule rely solely on their speed for safety, while the cottontails take refuge in the first hole they can reach.

Everywhere in their territory, as the shades of night approach, the cottontails come forth from their hiding places and skip merrily about in open ground on the borders of thickets and similar shelter, where they search for the tender green vegetation on which they love to feed. After it becomes too dark to distinguish their forms, the white tail may be seen twinkling about in the dusk. During the night they are often revealed in country roads by the head lights of automobiles.

Several litters of from two to six young usually appear during the spring and summer. These are born blind and practically naked, their unclad helplessness strongly contrasting with the open-eyed, fully furred, and alert young of the hares at the same age. This is a conclusive indication of the close relationship between cottontails and European rabbits, the young of the latter being similarly, but even more, undeveloped at birth.

The young of the cottontails are born in nests made of dead grasses warmly lined with fur from the mother’s body. If above ground the nest is placed in a little depression and so artfully concealed by a covering of dead grasses that it can be discovered only by accident. When caught, young cottontails utter little cries of alarm; the wounded adults sometimes shriek in terror.

From the early settlement of the United States to the present day cottontails have been so abundant that they have served as a valuable source of our game food supply. They are hunted with guns and with dogs, as well as being snared and trapped. Enormous numbers, running into the millions, are killed in this country yearly, but they are so prolific that they hold their own in a surprising degree.

Their abundance in many places, however, has made them a serious pest to agriculture. They eat growing alfalfa and other forage plants, many kinds of cultivated vegetables, young grape vines, and nursery stock and even kill orchard trees by gnawing the bark from the base of the trunks. As a result those who suffer from their depredations consider them pests to be destroyed, while others look upon them as desirable game animals to be protected by law.

As game animals the cottontails furnish some of the most delightful and interesting sport available to American hunters. The scurrying zigzag rush of a cottontail for the nearest shelter is so full of energetic motion that it always excites a pleasurable thrill in the observer, and even the keenest sportsman has so friendly a feeling for these little animals that the escape of one of them from an unsuccessful shot nearly always leaves a feeling of humorous amusement.

The cottontails have a secure place in American literature and folklore. Who has not read the wonder stories of the adventures of “Brer Rabbit” and ever after had a warmer feeling of fellowship for his kind? The presence of cottontails is a source of pleasure to children of all ages, and their disappearance from the wild life of a locality creates a more deeply felt blank than would the passing of many a nobler animal.

=THE MARSH RABBIT= (=Sylvilagus palustris= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 511_)

The marsh rabbit, or “pontoon,” as it is known in Georgia, is a distinctively American species allied to the cottontails, but distinguished from them by its more heavily proportioned body, smaller ears, shorter and slenderer legs and feet, and shorter, nearly unicolored tail. Its only close relative in the United States is the swamp rabbit, known in Alabama as the “cane-cutter.”

These two species appear to be members of a Tropical American group of which other members are the wood rabbits of Mexico, Central and South America. The distribution of the group was probably at one time continuous, but a change to arid conditions in northeastern Mexico and Texas isolated the two species remaining in this country.

The distribution of the marsh rabbit is limited to the southeastern coastal States from Dismal Swamp, Virginia, to Mobile Bay, Alabama. It is common in suitable places in Florida. Its larger relative, the swamp rabbit, ranges west from this area to Texas and up the Mississippi Valley to Illinois and southeastern Kansas. Swamp rabbits are numerous in the low, wooded coastal region of Louisiana. They are larger and longer-legged than marsh rabbits and fleeter of foot.

Among all the rabbits of the world the marsh and swamp rabbits are the only species which have aquatic habits. Both live mainly in marshes, wooded swamps, and along the low wooded courses of streams. Other rabbits and hares are occasionally known to cross water by swimming, but the marsh and swamp rabbits live about the water and take to it with all the freedom of a muskrat or mink. The marsh rabbit appears to be the more aquatic of the two, as the swamp rabbit sometimes lives in the forest, farther back from the water.

The Tropical wood rabbits are habitants of the dense forests, where they are well hidden under the rank undergrowth. They are not known to enter the water, but, like their northern relatives, make runways through the dense vegetation they frequent. The marsh rabbits live in cypress or other fresh-water swamps, heavily wooded bottoms, and fresh water, as well as brackish marshes. They feed on a variety of vegetation growing in such places and dig up such edible roots as the wild potato and amaryllis.

Both marsh and swamp rabbits have several litters of from two to six young each season, beginning in April. The young are born in large, well-made covered nests, which are built of rushes, grasses, and leaves and lined with hair from the parents. The nests, which have an entrance on one side, are usually located in the midst of dense growths of vegetation or on tussocks, in low, swampy places, and are sometimes surrounded by water. In the most frequented parts of marsh and swamp these rabbits make well-trodden trails through the dense vegetation.

When alarmed, marsh rabbits run for the nearest water, into which they plunge and swim quickly to the shelter of aquatic plants or other cover. When cut off from escape by water they try to avoid capture by doubling and turning, but are so short-legged that they are readily overtaken by a dog. The tracks of these rabbits in the mud differ from those of the cottontails in showing imprints of the spreading toes.

In South Carolina Bachman once found numerous marsh rabbits in the thickets about recently flooded rice fields and swamps. When he beat the bushes the rabbits plunged into the water and swam away so rapidly that some escaped from a Newfoundland dog which accompanied him. Several, apparently thinking themselves unnoticed, stopped and remained motionless about fifteen yards from the shore, with only their eyes and noses showing above water. Thus concealed in the muddy water, with ears laid flat on their necks, they were difficult to see. When touched with a stick they appeared unwilling to move until they saw that they were discovered, when they quickly swam away.

Later, when the water subsided to its regular channels, where it was about eight feet deep, many of the rabbits were seen swimming about, meeting and pursuing one another as if in sport. One which Bachman had in captivity during warm weather would lie for hours in a trough partly filled with water, with which the cage was furnished.

=THE PIKA, OR CONY= (=Ochotona princeps= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 511_)

The pika, little chief hare, or cony, as it is variously named, is among the most attractive and interesting of our mountain animals. It is about the size and shape of a small guinea-pig, with a short, blunt head, broad, rounded ears, short legs, practically no tail, and a long, fluffy coat of fur. While most nearly related to the hares and rabbits, it has very different habits.

The pikas form a group comprising many species, much alike in general appearance and distributed among the high mountains, from the Urals of Russia through Asia and northern North America. In Asia they occur mainly in the mountains through the middle of the continent south to the Himalayas. In Pleistocene time they ranged across Europe to England. In North America they are limited to the western side of the continent, from the Mount McKinley region of Alaska down the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico and along the Cascades and Sierra Nevada to the Mount Whitney region, in California.

Giving to these North American animals the appellation “cony” is one of many instances in which the name of an Old World animal is brought to America to designate a totally unrelated species. Once fixed in current use, the misapplied term is certain to persist.

Pikas are among the few mammals which live permanently along the high crests of the mountains, mainly above timberline, but they also descend in rock slides among the upper spruces, firs, and pines. The altitude of their haunts varies with the latitude, being between 8,000 and 13,500 feet in the United States, but in Alaska much lower.

In these cool, alpine regions the little animals live wholly within the shelter of rock slides and among the crevices of shattered rock masses. Their distribution is unaccountably broken, and although abundant in many places, they are absent from many others equally suitable. Their homes are in the midst of the flower-bedecked glacial valleys and basins, the haunts of the big marmots and mountain sheep.

They are mainly diurnal in habits, and throughout the day may be heard their odd little barking, or bleating note, like the syllables “eh-eh” repeated at intervals in a nasal tone, resembling the sound made by squeezing a toy dog. Occasionally they may be heard barking at night, perhaps when disturbed by some prowling enemy. Their notes have a curiously ventriloquial quality, which renders it difficult to locate the animals uttering them.

Owing to their dull gray or brownish colors, the pikas blend with their background so completely that when quietly sitting on a rock they are extremely difficult to see. Even when running about at a little distance they are not easily noted. Their movements are quick and they scamper over the rough surface of a rock slide with surprising agility.

Little is known of their more intimate life history. Their young, three or four in number, are born usually during the first half of summer and are out foraging when less than half-grown.

Small, bright eyes and big, rounded ears give pikas an odd and attractive appearance, unlike that of any other mountain animal. They are extremely watchful and at the first alarm disappear in the shelter of their rocky fortresses. Their little bark, however, continues to come up from their hiding places with constant iteration. If the observer will sit quietly at some good vantage point his patience will eventually be rewarded by the appearance of the pika on the top of a stone near the mouth of its retreat.

After a time, if everything is quiet, it resumes its scampering about over the rocks or may come to the border of the slide and make little excursions across the open ground after some of its forage plants. Skipping nimbly from the border of the slides to neighboring patches of vegetation, sometimes fifty or more feet away, the pika nips off the stems of short grasses or other plants and taking them up, like small bundles, crosswise in its mouth, runs back to add them to its “stacks.” These sallies are quick little runs, made as though in fear of being long away from the safety of the rocks. Caution is needful, however, in a world where lurk such enemies as coyotes, lynxes, foxes, weasels, hawks, and owls.

During late summer the pikas have the extraordinary habit of gathering stores of small herbage in piles containing sometimes a bushel each, usually well sheltered in dry places under the rocks where they live. Pikas are active all winter, and these little stacks of well-cured hay, containing a great variety of small plants, serve them as food during the severe cold season, when at these high altitudes they are buried under many feet of snow.

In pleasant weather, near the end of summer, visitors to the mountains of Colorado, Glacier National Park, the high slopes of Mount Shasta, or of the Sierra Nevada may have the pleasure of watching the pikas hard at work doing their “haying.” One of their “stacks” in the mountains of New Mexico contained thirty-four kinds of plants, including many flowers. No one who once becomes acquainted with these unique and gentle little animals will ever cease to remember them with friendly interest.

When compared with that of the deermouse, one notes the absence of the tail mark and the rarity of the fore feet being paired (see pages 505 and 522).]

=THE PORCUPINE= (=Erethizon dorsatum= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 514_)

The porcupine is one of the most grotesque of the smaller North American mammals. With a weight of from fifteen to twenty pounds, its heavy body is supported on short legs, the feet resting flat on the ground like those of the raccoon, instead of on the toes, as in most small animals.

Its strongest peculiarity is the specialized development of most of the fur into rigid, sharp-pointed spines or “quills” from half an inch to over three inches in length. That the spines represent the underfur of ordinary mammals is evident from the fact that they are overlaid by long, coarse guard hairs, sometimes several times their length.

The spiny armament usually lies flat on the body, but when the animal is excited or alarmed it may be raised, by special muscles on the underside of the skin, into a bristling array of barbed points. The spines are so slightly attached that when their points enter the skin of an enemy they at once become free at the base. The points firmly set in the skin of another animal, the spines can be withdrawn only with considerable effort, and if left will gradually work deeper and may traverse a considerable part of the victim’s body before finally becoming encysted.

When assailed the porcupine turns down its head, arches its back, and, on firmly planted feet with all its spines erected into a bristling cover, awaits the enemy. The instant its body is touched the club-shaped tail, armed with a multitude of spines, is swung vigorously around and the animal so incautious as to receive the blow is pierced by a host of stinging darts which, freed from the porcupine, remain to torment the aggressor. This swift and effective sweep of the tail has probably given rise to the idea that the porcupine can “shoot” its quills when defending itself.

Despite its defensive powers, however, the porcupine is, on occasion, successfully attacked by various enemies, including the mountain lion, bobcat, fisher, and even the eagle and great horned owl. The fisher is said habitually to kill and feed upon them, and the encysted quills are commonly found under its skin.

The frightful effect of an ill-judged attack on a porcupine is shown by inexperienced dogs after their first encounter with this strange beast. That such an attack is a dangerous venture, even by the craftiest and most powerful of its enemies, is well demonstrated by occasional fatalities among large carnivores which result from the great mass of spines imbedded in their heads and bodies.

The North American porcupine is a northern animal belonging mainly to coniferous forests, and ranges from sea level to timberline. It originally occupied nearly all the forested parts of the continent south to West Virginia, southern Illinois, the Davis Mountains of western Texas, and the southern end of the Sierra Nevada in California, but was absent from the Southeastern States and the lower Mississippi Valley.

While characteristically a woodland animal, at times it wanders from forest shelters and has been found prowling about above timberline on high mountains, and among alder thickets beyond the limit of trees in the far North. They are usually silent, but at times utter a curious squealing cry, and in addition have a variety of snuffing, growling, and chattering noises.

In the forests of tropical America, from Mexico to Brazil, other and shorter-quilled porcupines occur, characterized by smaller size and slenderer bodies with a long tail, the terminal half of which is naked and prehensile like that of an opossum. These animals inhabit forests where no conifers grow, and are much more arboreal in habits than their northern relatives. Still other and even more strikingly different porcupines occur in Europe, Asia, and Africa, some of the African animals having heavy spines more than twelve inches long.

All porcupines are true rodents, and the name hedgehog is erroneously used when applied to any of them. Hedgehogs are small Old World insect-eating mammals, which have their backs covered with porcupine-like spines, but are in no way related to the porcupines.

The American porcupines are mainly nocturnal, although they sometimes wander about by day. While largely arboreal in habits, they pass much of their time on the ground and commonly have their dens in caves at the bases of cliffs, under the shelter of large rocks, logs, piles of brush, or in hollows at the bases of trees. They are sluggish, stupid animals, with poor sight, and are unable to move rapidly, either in a tree or on the ground.

Although on the ground they are extremely deliberate, in the treetops they are even more sluggish and can be compared only with the sloth. In consequence they are practically helpless in the presence of an enemy except for the defense afforded by their spiny armor. That in most cases this is effective is evidenced by their continued presence throughout a large part of their original range where forests still exist.

Porcupines are solitary animals, totally devoid of any qualities of good fellowship with their kind, but the attraction of woodland camps often brings a number together. They are exceedingly fond of salt and persistently return to camps to gnaw logs, boards, or any other object having a salty flavor.

They appear to be practically omnivorous so far as vegetable matter is concerned and feed upon the bark and twigs of spruces, hemlocks, several species of pines, cottonwoods, alders, and other trees and bushes. In orchards and gardens near their haunts they eat apples, turnips, and other fruits and vegetables and visit the shores of ponds for waterlily pads and other aquatic plants growing within reach.

Ordinarily they eat patches of bark from the tree trunks, but sometimes girdle the tree or at times denude the entire trunk. They often remain for weeks in the top of a single tree, even in the severest winter weather. I had a practical illustration of this on one occasion when stormbound in a fur trader’s cabin at the head of Norton Bay, on the north coast of Bering Sea, where a belt of spruces reached down from the interior. We were short of meat, and when one of the Eskimos reported that some time before he had seen a porcupine in a spruce tree he was sent to look for it. A few hours later he returned bringing the game, having found it in the very same tree where he had seen it many days before, although we had just experienced a period of severe weather, with temperatures well under 40 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. It was on this occasion that I first learned the palatable qualities of porcupine flesh.

Little is known definitely concerning the family life of these animals. The young, from one to four in number, are amazingly large at birth and appear fully armed with spines. Even before they are half grown they adopt the solitary habit of the adults and wander forth to care for themselves.

Porcupine’s have an intimate connection with the romantic side of early Indian life in eastern America. Their white quills were colored in bright hues by vegetable dyes known to the Indians and served to make beautiful embroidery on belts, moccasins, and other articles of aboriginal clothing until primitive art gave way to the more tawdry effects of trade goods.

=THE JUMPING MOUSE= (=Zapus hudsonius= and its relatives)

(_For illustration, see page 514_)

In several ways the jumping mouse is unique among American mammals. Its strongest characteristics are a dull, rusty yellowish color, a slender body about three inches long, a remarkably slender tail about five inches in length, and long hind legs and feet, which are specially developed for jumping, like those of a little kangaroo. In addition it is provided with cheek pouches, one on each side of the mouth, in which it gathers food to be carried to its hidden stores.

The long tail serves as a balance during its extraordinary leaps, some of which in a single bound cover a distance of about ten feet. If by accident one of these animals loses its tail, whenever it jumps it is thrown into a series of somersaults, turning helplessly over and over in the air.

The jumping mice form a small group of species and geographic races closely similar in general appearance. They are the sole representatives in North America of the Old World jerboas and are themselves represented elsewhere by a single species occurring in the interior of China. The jerboa family contains in addition many larger and curiously diverse species distributed over a large part of Asia, Africa, and southern Europe. Many Old World jerboas are desert animals, some of them exact reproductions in shape and color of the kangaroo rats of arid regions in the Western and Southwestern States and Mexico, although they are in no way related to those animals.

Jumping mice are distributed over most of the northern parts of North America from the Atlantic coast of Labrador to the Bering Sea coast of Alaska, and southward to North Carolina, Illinois, New Mexico, and California. They are nocturnal in habits and live in or near the borders of forests, in thickets of weeds or brushwood, and in meadows adjoining woodland areas or forest lakes. In prairie country they occupy belts of woody growth bordering streams. In congenial locations they range from sea level up to an altitude of 8,000 feet or more.

For winter homes they dig burrows two or three feet deep, in the lower parts of which they excavate oval chambers and fill them with fine grass and other soft material to make a warm nest. Other chambers opening from these burrows serve as store-rooms for berries, seeds, and nuts of various kinds, among which beechnuts are a favorite.

The nests occupied as summer homes are placed in shallow burrows a few inches below the surface of the ground, or they may be in a hollow tree, under a piece of bark, in a dense tussock of grass, or in other makeshift shelter. In these nests the young, varying from two to eight in number, are born at varying times between May and September, indicating the probability that more than one litter is produced each season.

When suddenly startled from her nest the female often flees with several of the young clinging to her teats. She runs swiftly through the grass, and if hard pressed will take a long leap, still carrying the pendant young. It is surprising that such delicately formed animals can make long leaps in thickly grown places and apparently land safely, especially when carrying their young. In the flights of the mother some of the young must be jarred loose, but when the alarm is over no doubt she returns to find and rescue any that may be missing.

In the northeastern States jumping mice are common habitants of meadows. They are equally at home in the rocky meadows of New England, on the flower-spangled borders of rushing trout streams in the Sierra Nevada of California, and the boggy glades of subarctic Alaska.

My first acquaintance with them was made many years ago, during haying time, in northern New York. Hidden under a haycock, as the last forkful was raised one of them was often revealed, and its startling leaps always resulted in an exciting chase, which usually ended in the escape of the strange little beast.