|
Class MAMMALIA: Vertebrate Animals
That Nurse Their Young
[p.134]
Order LAGOMORPHA: Rabbitlike
Animals
Family LEPORIDAE: Rabbits
Sylvilagus floridanus similis
Nelson
Nebraska Cottontail
| Wahboos of the Chippewas (Wilson);
Manshtin-sapana
of the Dakotas (Gilmore); Monstinga
of the Omahas (Gilmore), generic term. |
Sylvilagus floridanus similis
Nelson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 20, p. 82, 1907.
Type locality.--Valentine,
Nebr.
General characters.--Rather
compact, with relatively short ears and short legs. Colors
essentially similar in summer and winter. Upper parts,
rusty gray, darkened by numerous long, black-tipped hairs;
rump, clear dark gray; throat, belly, and under surface
of tail, pure white. Adult measurements: Total length,
approximately 408 millimeters; tail, 52; hind foot, 99;
ear from notch, 50. An adult male taken at Fargo by O.
J. Murie on November 7, 1919, measured 405, 52, 98 millimeters,
and weighed 2 pounds 1½ ounces.
| FIG. 8.--Three species of cottontail
rabbit in North Dakota: Circles, the Nebraska cottontail;
triangles, the Black Hills cottontail; squares,
the Wyoming cottontail |
Distribution
and habitat.--Over the central Great Plains from Kansas
to near the Canadian line Nebraska cottontail rabbits
occupy the stream valleys and thickets of a mainly prairie
region (fig. 8). In North Dakota there are specimens from
Fairmount, Oakes, Fargo, Kathryn, Portland, Valley City,
Larimore, Grafton, Hawks Nest, Dawson, Stump Lake, Sweetwater
Lakes, Towner, Oakdale, Stanton, Fort Clark, Deapolis,
Bismarck, Cannon Ball, and Winona. These are mainly brush
rabbits, not commonly found at any great distance from
the wooded or brushy bottoms. Apparently they have not
yet reached the Turtle Mountains, although since the settlement
of the country their range seems to be slowly extending
northward in the [p.135] State. In 1887
there was found no trace of them in North Dakota, nor
nearer than Fort Sisseton, S. Dak., and Browns Valley,
Minn. Eastgate says they first reached Larimore in 1900.
In 1913 Mr. Booth, a taxidermist,
reported that cottontails were abundant at Minot, and
had first arrived about 1890. No trace of them was found
farther north, at Kenmare, Crosby, or Bottineau. In 1912,
on a wagon trip from Linton, in the southern part of the
State, to Stump Lake, no trace of cottontails were found
until Hawks Nest Butte was reached, where a specimen was
obtained and tracks were seen in the timber, and on the
south side of Stump Lake the rabbits were common in the
timber. In 19191 at Walhalla, Eugene D'Heiley told the
writer that cottontails came there in 1912, but soon disappeared,
though they were still found at Neche, 20 miles farther
east. In 1913 Jewett collected a specimen at Fort Clark
and one at Oakdale in the Killdeer Mountains, and reported
them as fairly common in the thickets and brushy gulches.
In 1915 Kellogg took specimens at Larimore and reported
them common at Manvel, Grand Forks County, and at Grafton,
Walsh County. He was told that they were common at Drayton,
Pembina County, although he did not find any. At Towner
he took one immature specimen in the meadow and saw several
others, and he reported the species common along the Missouri
River from Stanton to Bismarck.
General habits.--These
little short-legged rabbits are such an easy prey to dogs,
wolves, and foxes that it is necessary for them to keep
within the protecting cover of thickets or dense vegetation.
Usually where they occur their roadways or trails may
be found in every thicket or leading from one thicket
to another. At Hankinson, they were found abundant in
the woods and brush patches around the lake shores and
in the thickets among the sand dunes. On the Hankinson
ranch cottontails were frequently seen in the dooryards
and about the buildings, in spite of several dogs and
cats which were constantly hunting them. A family of half-grown
cottontails living in some burrows under the roots of
a tree gave the dogs a great deal of exercise in chasing
them to cover and digging and barking at their burrows.
The rabbits did not seem to care and were getting the
best kind of training for life on the ranch.
At Fairmount, Sheldon reported
them as frequenting farms and deserted buildings. At Lisbon
and Valley City, Eastgate reported them as very common
in the thickets and in both the natural timber and planted
groves. As the country fills up with farm buildings, orchards,
and garden shrubbery, these rabbits seem to increase in
abundance and extend their range on the open prairie,
where formerly it was impossible for them to exist because
of numerous native enemies.
In the older, more settled
parts of the State they are conspicuously most abundant.
Along the Missouri River bottoms, where the thickets are
dense and often thorny, they find the most perfect protection
and satisfactory conditions of environment. At Washburn,
in 1909, the writer found them abundant all over the brushy
river bottoms, where in summer they had the added protection
of hosts of mosquitoes, which rendered hunting almost
impossible. At Fort Clark, in 1913, Jewett reported them
common in the wooded and brushy bottomlands, to which
they were closely restricted; on a [p.136]
short walk along the river-bottom roads in the evening,
he would usually see five or six. At Cannon Ball, in 1916,
they were found very common in the brushy bottoms along
the Missouri and Cannonball Rivers, and at Parkin, a few
miles up the Cannonball, they were common in the wooded
and brushy bottoms. One was living in a lumber pile in
the middle of the new town just starting up on the prairie,
and a bulldog spent much of his time chasing it from one
lumber pile to another, but the rabbit seemed to realize
its advantages and not to worry over the noisy demonstrations
of the dog.
Breeding habits.--Cottontails
are prolific breeders and usually raise several litters
of young in a season. At Fairmount, on May 28, Sheldon
collected a female which was nursing young. On the Sheyenne
River, north of Valley City, Eastgate took one on May
17, 1912, which contained seven embryos; and at Grafton,
on May 10, 1912, Williams took one containing six small
embryos; one collected by Jewett at Fort Clark, on July
22, 1913, contained five small embryos. Although born
in a naked, blind, and helpless condition, the young develop
rapidly and are soon able to shift for themselves, leaving
the mother to resume her parental duties with a new family.
Food habits.--Rabbits
are mainly grazing animals, and their list of food plants
includes in large proportion both native and cultivated
vegetation. They take the leaves and tender blades from
grasses, clovers, and most of the wild leguminous plants
with which they come in contact, and are especially fond
of the cultivated clovers, alfalfa, and most garden vegetables.
They also eat the bark and buds of many shrubs and small
trees in summer and in winter depend largely upon browse
and bark for their food. At Kathryn, in Barnes County,
Eastgate reported them feeding in the evenings along the
edges of the grainfields, where it was common to see six
or eight at a time. They always find an abundance of food
and as one kind of vegetation dies or dries up, other
plants are accepted in its place.
In times of deep snow the
rabbits forage out from their well-protected burrows and
pick buds and green tips and branches from the shrubs
and such plants as are exposed above the snow, every increase
in the depth of snow lifts them to a fresh supply. Their
runways in the snow are always packed and frozen, so that
a rapid retreat to safe cover is assured, and as more
food is needed the runways are extended farther out through
the brush or from one thicket to another.
Economic status.--Numerous
inquiries among farm residents made it evident that these
rabbits are not generally considered a pest, although
where abundant they occasionally do considerable mischief.
The small quantity of grain that they cut along the edges
of a field, the forage crops eaten, and the fruit trees
and shrubbery occasionally killed or damaged, is readily
forgiven them because of their value as food and game.
To many of the country boys they furnish the only available
hunting, and usually before the winter is far advanced
they have become so scarce as to leave barely enough to
restock the country the following spring. In this northern
clime they accumulate considerable at during the fall,
and are [p.137] among the choicest rabbits
for food, being especially healthy, plump, tender, and
well flavored. They have also a market value, and if they
ever become overabundant, ample protection against damage
to crops and trees may be had by extending the hunting
season. In rare cases it may be necessary to poison those
around orchards and gardens. Full directions for destroying
them in this way will be furnished by the Biological Survey
on request.18 Generally,
however, the few individuals that are doing mischief can
be shot and utilized for food. The young of the year are
especially delicious, broiled or fried, while the old
individuals, well stewed with a little bacon or fat pork,
afford an acceptable variety for any table.
Sylvilagus nuttallii grangeri (Allen)
Black Hills Cottontail
Nis of the Arikaras, and
Itak-shipisha of the Hidatsas (Gilmore).
Lepus sylvatieug grangeri Allen,
Bul. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, p. 264, 1895.
Type locality.--Hill
City, S. Dak.
General characters.--About
the size of similis, but lighter gray, with slightly
longer ears and distinctive skull characters. Slightly
smaller than baileyi, with shorter ears and feet.
Very similar in color, but brighter rusty on nape and
legs. Average measurements: Total length, 385 millimeters;
tail, 46; hind foot, 95; ear (measured dry), 56.
Distribution and habitat.--The
little pale-gray Black Hills rabbits barely reach into
extreme western North Dakota from their wide distribution
over the arid interior of Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana
(fig. 8). There are 5 specimens from Buford, 2 from Goodall,
2 from Medora, and 1 from Mikkelson on Roosevelt Creek,
23 miles north of Medora. They occupy the same Badlands
country with baileyi but appear to confine themselves
mainly to the dense thickets along the stream courses.
At Medora, Jewett reported them as not common, but a few
were found in the banks of the Little Missouri River,
where a female was shot on January 15 as she sat in front
of her burrow. Only three were seen in this locality.
Farther down the river a few were seen usually in thick
growths of buffaloberry bushes. In other localities the
writer has found them taking shelter among rocks and in
hollow banks, but more often under dense growths, as sagebrush
or thorny thickets of bullberry bushes. The three distinct
species of cottontails of North Dakota have amicably or
otherwise divided the ground among themselves, in a way
that seems best to fit the needs of each, grangeri
taking the place of similis in the arid brushy
bottoms, while baileyi occupies the rougher and
more open uplands.
Sylvilagus andubonii baileyi (Merriam)
Wyoming Cottontail
Lepus baileyi Merriam, Proc.
Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 11, p. 148, 1897.
Type locality.--Spring
Creek, Bighorn Basin, Wyo.
General characters.--Size
about the same as similis, but with ears and legs
conspicuously longer and colors lighter. Upper parts,
light gray with a buffy tinge, neck clear buffy; underparts,
white; tail, large and puffy and three-quarters [p.138]
white, with relatively narrow stripe of gray above. Measurements
of adult male, from Little Missouri River: Total length,
399 millimeters; tail, 48; hind foot, 102; ear (measured
dry), 67. Measurements of type specimen, 418, 50, 100,
and 94.
Distribution and habitat.--The
long-eared Wyoming cottontails come into extreme western
North Dakota along the Little Missouri Valley (fig 8).
There are specimens in the Biological Survey collection
from Marmarth, the former from North Dakota National Forest,
Sentinel Butte, and the Little Missouri River, 25 miles
north of Medora, and one in the agricultural college collection,
at Fargo, collected by Doctor Bell, at Wade, on the Cannonball
River. At Parkin, near the mouth of the Cannonball, the
writer recognized these long-eared rabbits as common in
1916 around the Badlands buttes, and Sheldon reported
one seen at the Palace Buttes a little north of the mouth
of the river.
General habits.--To
a great extent these are Badlands cottontails, and instead
of keeping to the brushy bottoms they are more often found
along the broken slopes and among the rock piles and Badlands
gulches of the roughest parts of the country. At Parkin
the writer found them along the steep slopes of the high
butte near town, running from one rock pile to another
and taking refuge under the rocks and in washed-out cavities
of the Badlands slopes. Their long ears, big white tails,
and yellow-gray color mark them at once as different from
the short-eared and more compact little Nebraska or Black
Hills cottontails of the brushy bottomlands. Along the
northern edge of the North Dakota National Forest early
in August of 1913 they were found abundant in the banks
of the river valley and in the rough gulches of the rocky
slopes of the Badlands, where they would quickly gain
cover in some rock pile or washed-out hollow in the banks
or else take refuge in an impenetrable jungle of buffaloberry
bushes or tangle of brush that offered equally good protection.
About 8 miles south of Sentinel Butte Jewett obtained
a specimen at the entrance of a deep crevasse in a rocky
gulch on the side of the big butte. In an open country,
where life frequently depends on getting quickly to safe
cover, these rabbits have developed long ears and long
legs for quick hearing and rapid flight. In other ways
they have the general habits of most cottontails. As food
they are equally as good as the brush-inhabiting species
and as game generally more difficult to shoot.
Lepus americanus americanus Erxleben
Varying Hare; White Rabbit; Snowshoe Rabbit
(Pl. 17, fig.
3)
[Lepus] americanus Erxleben,
Syst. Regni. Anim., p. 330, 1777.
Lepus bishopi Allen, Bul. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.,
vol. 12 (1899), p. 11, 1900; type from Mill Lake, Turtle
Mountains, North Dakota.19
Type locality.--Fort
Severn, Keewatin, Canada.
General characters.--About
midway in size between jack rabbits and cottontails. Ears
and legs, moderately long; tail, small; feet, large and
hairy, especially in winter. In summer upper parts dark
buffy gray, with blackish on tips of ears and top of tail;
feet, buffy brown; chin and middle of belly, [p.139]
whitish; lower surface of tail, gray. In winter pure white,
except black narrow border of ear, and dark eyes. Fur,
very long and soft; on soles of feet, long, dense, and
coarse. During change from white winter coat to gray summer
coat, after loss of the long white cover-hairs and before
gray summer coat comes to the surface, there is a short
time when the yellow underfur is exposed; also during
the fall change from gray to white the color is much mixed
and often patched. Average measurements of adult specimens
from North Dakota: Total length, 451 millimeters; tail,
34; hind foot, 125; ear from notch (measured dry), 60.
Weight, 3 to 3½ pounds (Seton).
Distribution and habitat.--Snowshoe
rabbits, which turn from gray in summer to white in winter,
are more or less common in the forested areas of the Turtle
Mountains, Pembina Hills, around Devils Lake, and along
the wooded parts of the valleys of the Red, Mouse, and
Missouri Rivers. There are specimens in the Biological
Survey collection from Grafton,20
the Turtle Mountains, Devils Lake, Stump Lake, Elbowoods,
and Buford. Throughout the timbered and brushy areas of
the Turtle Mountains they are especially abundant and
specimens have been collected near Metagoshe Lake, Fish
Lake, Diansley, Birchwood, and Mill Lake. On January 21,
1913, W. B. Bell reported one collected near Fargo and
mounted for the agricultural college collection, and in
1919, Murie reported them as occasionally found there.
In 1887, the writer was told that they were found in the
woods near Grand Forks, and at Pembina he found them common.
At Kenmare, in 1913, he found them common in the thickets
and woods of the side gulches along the Des Lacs Valley,
where their trails and signs were abundant and several
of the rabbits were seen. C. E. Peck said that in the
fall and winter the boys killed them there by dozens in
the thickets of aspens and other northern trees and shrubs.
Mr. Booth, a local taxidermist, was certain that they
were common in the woods along the Mouse River near Minot.
At Buford, in 1910, Anthony reported them common in the
brushy river flats, where their well-beaten runways and
patches of peeled willow brush were conspicuous and where
several were seen and one specimen obtained. At Elbowoods,
in 1915, Kellogg collected one specimen and reported them
as quite common in the forest along the river bottoms.
At Stanton and Sather he reported them scarce. At Cannon
Ball, in 1916, the writer found their unmistakable signs
and trails in the thickets along the river bottoms and
was told by the residents that they were not very common.
At a spot where one had been killed and eaten and its
fur scattered about, the writer collected the tail as
positive proof of the species. At Devils Lake, in 1916,
Kellogg found one of these rabbits dead on Sullys Hill
and saved the skull for a specimen. The following year
a young one was taken on the north shore of the lake about
a mile from the town of Devils Lake and signs of them
were found throughout the woods along the north and south
shores. Williams reports them abundant at Grafton at times.
[p.140]
General habits.--The varying hares are strictly
woods rabbits, depending on dense forest and thickets
for cover, protection, and food. They rarely come into
the open, except along the edges of brush patches, where
they can quickly dash back out of sight into their well-beaten
trails and runways, which carry them under the brush in
perfect safety from most of their enemies. In summer their
dusky-gray colors render them invisible in the brushy
shadows, and as they sit with ears low on their backs
they seem fully aware of the advantage of their protective
coloration and often allow passersby almost to step on
them before bounding away into the thickets. Though mainly
nocturnal in habits, they are usually seen in the evening
or early morning sitting in the roads or trails that wind
through the forest, and in a good rabbit year, when their
numbers are at the maximum, a late or early drive along
the wood roads usually sends them hopping out of the way
at frequent intervals. At times the become very scarce,
and often for a period of several years are seldom seen.
Many theories have been advanced to account for the waves
of abundance and scarcity, which seem to be more or less
periodic, but much remains to be learned by close and
continuous observation of the real causes. A very full
account of their fluctuations through the north country
is given by Preble (1908, p. 199), in North American Fauna
No. 27; Seton (1909, Vol. 1, pp. 621-652) also gives an
interesting account of their habits in his Life-histories
of Northern Animals.
Breeding habits.--On
June 18, 1916, some one found a very young rabbit that
had been killed by a dog in a patch of silver-leaf bushes
on the shore of Devils Lake, about a mile from town. It
was not so large as one's fist and had evidently been
dug out of the nest or hollow in the leaves of the little
brush patch, and as it had just been killed it made an
excellent specimen and showed the beautiful if crinkly,
coarse gray fur of the juvenal coat. Although apparently
not a week old, its fur was very long, soft, and full,
and the color even more highly protective than in the
adults. Apparently the dog had eaten or carried away the
other members of the family, so the number in the litter
could not be determined. Usually with this species there
are 3 or 4 young at a birth, and farther north in Canada
Preble records 2 to 6 embryos. A female examined at Fort
Clark by Maximilian in 1833 contained 4 embryos. The species
is generally supposed to raise 2 or 3 litters of young
during a summer, but data on this point are meager.
Food habits.--In
summer these rabbits feed on a great variety of green
vegetation, including grasses, grains, many of the wild
and cultivated clovers and leguminous plants, and some
buds and leaves of shrubbery. In winter they depend mainly
upon the bark and buds of a great variety of shrubs and
eat higher up as the snow becomes deeper. In spring the
bushes neatly clipped at various levels show the depth
of snow from which the rabbits fed at different times
during the winter; often these clippings reach 4 or 5
feet above the surface of the ground. The large chisel-like
incisors of the rabbits will cut bushes up to the size
of lead pencils as smoothly as if done by a knife, and
they also serve to remove the bark from fallen branches
and even the trunks of small trees when other food is
not abundant. Sometimes whole thickets of willow and aspen
[p.141] are denuded of bark as high
as the rabbits can reach, and even some of the young forest
trees are thus injured or killed. Except in years of unusual
abundance the rabbits find an ample food supply in the
buds and tender tips of the winter browse without doing
much harm. They are usually plump and sometimes show considerable
fat even during the coldest of winter weather.
Economic status.--In
newly settled sections of wooded country where the snowshoe
rabbits are abundant they sometimes do considerable harm
in cutting the young trees and shrubbery in winter, and
may take a small portion of the growing crops in summer.
Their value as food and game animals, however, is sufficient
to outweigh by far the little damage they occasionally
do. In many parts of the country where once common, they
have been practically exterminated from extensive areas
by persistent hunting. There is great danger that, without
reasonable protection in restricted areas of their range,
such as that about Devils Lake and in the scattered timber
patches along the Mouse River, and even in the brushy
bottoms along the Missouri, they may be killed off to
the point of extermination. Among all the rabbits of the
State they are the most desirable as food and game and
from their habit of keeping entirely within the brush
they are less likely to do serious harm to crops. Except
in years of extreme abundance, their seasonal protection
with that of other game would seem a wise precaution.
At any time when their numbers become too great the protection
could be removed and they would soon be reduced by local
and market hunters.
Lepus townsendii campanius Hollister
White-tailed Jack Rabbit
Warchu of the Arikaras,
and Manstinska
of the Dakotas (Gilmore).
Lepus townsendii campanius Hollister,
Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 28, p. 70, 1915.
Type locality.--Plains
of Saskatchewan, probably near Carlton House, Saskatchewan.
General characters.--A
large, heavy-bodied jack rabbit with long ears and legs
and large while tail. Color in summer, light buffy gray
above, back of ears white with black tips; tail, large
and usually pure white or with an obscure gray line down
the top; underparts, except throat, white or grayish white.
In full winter coat, usually pure white all over except
black tips of ears and dark eyes, but sometimes with a
buffy tinge on feet, face, and back. Average measurements
of adults from North Dakota: Total length, 648 millimeters;
tail 108; hind foot, 154; ear (measured dry), 95; Seton
(1900, vol. 1, p. 654) records specimens weighing from
6 to 12 pounds. H. V. Williams, of Grafton, gives the
average weight of 12 specimens as 8 pounds, and the greatest
weight as 14 pounds. A large old female shot near Medina
in June weighed 7¼ pounds.
Distribution and habitat.--The
big white-tailed jack rabbits are generally distributed
over the plains and prairie region from New Mexico to
Saskatchewan and from Iowa to the Continental Divide,
including all of North Dakota except the forested areas,
into which they do not penetrate to any great distance.
There are specimens from Lidgerwood, Ludden, Forbes, Valley
City, Lisbon, Napoleon, Dawson, Harrisburg, Devils Lake,
Towner, Buford, Mandan, Medora, Grinnell, Cannon Ball,
and Sentinel Butte, They have [p.142]
been reported from almost every locality in the State
where field work has been carried on, except in the wooded
part of the Turtle Mountains; at Little Prairie, an open
area in the midst of the forest, Eastgate says they are
common. In the smaller strips of forest they often gather
in winter storms to feed on the bushes and escape the
blizzards, but usually they are found on the wide, open
prairie. Generally they are not numerous, and only occasionally
is one seen to spring from its grassy form and go bounding
over the wide expanse. Their big tracks are conspicuous
in the dusty trails and roads, and their well-worn trails
can often be followed for a long distance through the
grass. Their abundance can also be estimated from the
numbers of large round flattened pellets found scattered
over the prairie. Some years they become much more numerous
than others, but never multiply into the great numbers
of the southern black-tailed jack rabbits. They hold their
own well as the country settles up and are as much at
home in the grainfields as on the prairie.
General habits.--These
jack rabbits are animals of the open country, where speed
and protective coloration save them from their enemies.
As they sit crouched low in their shallow forms, even
in the short prairie grass, they are so nearly invisible
as to be rarely seen until they move. Depending on their
invisibility, they will often lie close until almost stepped
upon, then spring into the air and bound away at full
speed with a startling flash of white tail, legs, and
ears. Usually, they run with long, high leaps, head and
ears held high as if in play, tail cocked on one side,
patting the ground lightly with their feet, and at first
often appearing to limp or run on three legs. It is only
when badly frightened or closely pursued that they get
down to real speed and stretch out in low, long form,
with ears laid back as they glide close over the surface
of the ground.
From a passenger train
the writer once watched an interesting race with one that
a dog had chased across the prairie directly toward the
middle of the train. As it turned parallel with the train
it raced along for about a mile, straining every nerve,
stretching long and low and occasionally making two or
three long leaps, then stretched out again at its best
speed. As nearly as could be estimated, the train was
going at about 40 miles an hour and for at least two minutes
the rabbit held its own. The dog had given up the chase
and finally the rabbit turned back into the prairie and
with a few long, high bounds went over the top of the
nearest swell. With an automobile on good roads, the speed
of these rabbits could be measured, but no opportunity
has been presented to give it a fair test. It is probable
that these animals are excelled in speed only by good
greyhounds. In their white winter coats, on big, furry
feet, they run over the top of the snow in perfect safety
from all pursuers except those with wings.
As the snow becomes deep
they burrow underneath and usually sit fully concealed
in their snow tunnels, where they are safe from even the
large hawks and eagles. In the shallow snow they will
sit nose to the wind on the open prairie or in plowed
fields, as invisible as a speck on the great white snowfield.
Speaking of their winter habits, H. V. Williams, of Grafton,
says:
[p.143] Plowed fields are their favorite
places in winter. One of their peculiar habits, which
usually warns a hunter of their presence, is that of zigzagging
before digging a form and lying down. It is a sure sign
that the rabbit is not far away when the trail begins
to zigzag or the tracks turn back over themselves: one
will often follow down a furrow, then turn and backtrack
for 30 or 40 yards and make a long leap to one side before
lying down within a few yards of the trail. Then as the
hunter follows the trail past them they will get up behind
him and get a good start before being seen.
Breeding
habits.--At Buford, Anthony took a female on May 31,
1910, which contained 5 full-haired fetuses. The number
of young is usually given as 3 to 6. The mammae are arranged
usually in 4 pairs, generally considered 1 pair inguinal,
2 pairs abdominal, and 1 pair pectoral. While nursing young
there is a copious supply of milk and the young up to quarter
grown are found with a mixture of curd and green vegetation
in their stomachs, but by the time they are half grown they
seem to be entirely independent, relying on their ears,
eyes, and legs for protection. Apparently in the northern
part of the range but one litter is raised in a year, and
these are born in May or June and are practically full grown
at the beginning of winter. Seton (1909, vol. 1, p. 664)
gives an interesting account of two fetuses taken from a
mother that had been shot. They were found to have their
eyes open and to be very active, and when set on the ground
they ran about so quickly as to be hard to catch. They were
taken home and raised by spoon feeding and became perfectly
tame and very playful pets, living until 3½ months
old, when they were accidentally killed. The young are usually
found in some shallow burrow or concealing cavity in the
ground, and up to the time when they are half grown and
able to distance most of their pursuers they often run to
a badger hole and disappear in its depths. If no burrow
is near they often run to the nearest brush or weed patch
and squat close under the protecting cover, but even on
the short grass prairie they absolutely disappear from view
when squatted flat with ears laid low and tail tucked in.
Food habits.--In summer
the white-tailed jack rabbits feed largely on grass, growing
grain, and the prairie plants. They are very fond of clover,
alfalfa, and many garden vegetables, as well as the tender
shoots of growing grain. In winter their food is largely
buds and browse, including the tips, branches, and bark
of a great variety of shrubs and small trees. Young fruit
trees and berry bushes afford favorite winter food. Until
the ground is buried in snow they find an abundance of food
among the dry winter plants, and as the snow becomes deep
they hunt for thickets or brush patches where buds and branches
are always within easy reach. Often they gather around hay
or straw stacks, or follow the roads for scattered straws,
which have been dropped by passing teams.
Economic status.--Unlike
the southern black-tailed jack rabbits, which are often
excessively numerous and of comparatively little value for
food or game, these big northern hares are generally considered
valuable game animals. In North Dakota they are rarely so
abundant as to do any serious mischief, and their toll in
forage is largely compensated for by their furnishing good
sport and wholesome meat during fall and early winter. In
orchards, groves, and yards they sometimes cause considerable
loss and annoyance by cutting off or eating the young trees
and bushes, but in most cases this [p.144]
can be prevented by shooting the spoilers or by encouraging
hunting in the vicinity. At Grafton, in 1912, Williams reported
that they were hunted for food and sold a great deal in
the markets. In the Sheyenne River Valley, in 1912, Eastgate
wrote that during the winter many were shot and sold to
be shipped abroad. Some years they were shipped by hundreds
to commission merchants in St. Paul, Minn. In winter great
numbers find their way to the markets of eastern cities,
where they sell at a good price. Locally also they have
considerable importance as game, and from midsummer on,
when other fresh meat is scarce and expensive, the half
grown young form many delicious meals on the farms and ranches.
They seem to be holding their own over the State surprisingly
well.
In covering a good deal of
North Dakota in 1912, the writer found these rabbits fully
as common as when he first crossed the State in 1887. Even
near the larger places, as Fargo, Grand Forks, Devils Lake,
Bismarck, and Williston, they were almost as common as in
the less settled sections, but in 1919 they were noticeably
scarce in the Red River Valley. In some places many are
shot at night in the roads as they run in front of automobile
lights. One man told of shooting 16 in front of his machine
one night "just for fun." If this unsportsmanlike practice
should become general, it might seriously diminish the numbers
of these useful animals, but generally they need little
protection other than their own alertness and speed.
In rare cases where they
become overabundant as they did in 1923 and 1924 in western
Hettinger County, their numbers are reduced by organized
hunting parties. Lewis F. Crawford sent a photograph of
7,550 of these great white hares in one pile at New England,
N. Dak., killed in December, 1924. They were hunted with
guns, dogs, and automobiles over an area of 20 to 30 miles
square, both in the daytime and by the light of the moon.
If rightly used the food value of the rabbits is a safeguard
against any overabundance of the species.
18
See Farmers' Bul. 702 (Lantz, 1916).
19
This form, based on an abnormal skull in the type and
only specimen available at the time of its description,
appears on examination of a good series of specimens from
the type region to be typical americanus.
20
Two specimens collected at Grafton on March 30, by H.
V. Williams, are in the yellow spring coat after the disappearance
of most of the white outer fur. In one of these a spot
of the new summer coat is shown and this agrees with the
buffy-gray color of americanus rather than with
the warm brown of Lepus americanus phaeonotus Allen
of Minnesota. Although the type locality of phaeonotus
is just across the Red River Valley at Hallock, Minn.,
the specimens from Grafton are evidently nearer to the
typical subspecies than to the Minnesota varying hare.
Scanned and formatted by Kathryn
Thomas
North Dakota State University Libraries
June 19, 2002
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Last Updated: October 12, 2002