. Animal life in the Yosemite; an account of the mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians in a cross-section of the Sierra Nevada. Zoology. JACK BABBITS 223 A typical meeting with a jack rabbit, near Coulterville, is described in our notes of May 11, 1919. One of these animals was started up in a hillside field above the main road. He ran a short distance up the slope, then stopped, standing first on the toes, then settled down until the soles of the hind feet rested on the ground. I remained perfectly quiet for several minutes and so did the rabbit. He stood in a quartering position and eyed
. Animal life in the Yosemite; an account of the mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians in a cross-section of the Sierra Nevada. Zoology. JACK BABBITS 223 A typical meeting with a jack rabbit, near Coulterville, is described in our notes of May 11, 1919. One of these animals was started up in a hillside field above the main road. He ran a short distance up the slope, then stopped, standing first on the toes, then settled down until the soles of the hind feet rested on the ground. I remained perfectly quiet for several minutes and so did the rabbit. He stood in a quartering position and eyed me monocularly. All this time the immense ears, appearing more than twice the length of the head, were kept erect. I par- tially closed my eyes and then noted how readily the rabbit melted into the background, so that if it had not moved, it could easily have been overlooked. Finally I started on and at once the Jack bounded off and was lost to view behind some brush plants. While we were camped along the shore of the Tuolumne River below Lagrange in May of 1919, jack rabbits were often seen close to the margin of the stream. Tracks aiid droppings indicated that they frequented the place. Whether they came down (off the adjacent mesa) to drink we were unable to ascertain. Their repeated occurrence close to the river, where there was no particular sort of forage to attract them, made this at least a possible explanation. Yet jack rabbits do live in many places where there is no water at all to drink. The jack rabbit forages for a variety of materials, including not only grasses but also parts of brushy plants. Where man has taken possession of the country and planted alfalfa, grains, or other crops these animals naturally turn to the new materials and often take extensive toll. The erection of rabbit-proof fences and the killing off of the animals by various means have been resorted to in efforts to protect crops. In earlier years rabbit drives, participated in by all the reside
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Keywords: ., bookauthorgr, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectzoology
