Audubon's Mammals/MAMMALS1_3.BIN/dp/0011/00115.txt

Text File | 1992-08-25 | 13KB | 229 lines

$Unique_ID{QAD00115}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Black Tailed Hare     (Black-tailed Jack Rabbit)}
$Subject{Black Tailed Hare     (Black-tailed Jack Rabbit); Lepus; Callotis}
$Journal{Quadrupeds of America:  Volume II}
$Volume{Vol. 2:95-99}
$Genus{Lepus}
$Species{Callotis}
$Common_Name{Black Tailed Hare}
$Log{
Plate LXIII*00115P1.scf
Genus*00005.txt}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       A U D U B O N ' S   M A M M A L S

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. S., &c. &c.

                                      AND

                     The Rev. John Bachman, D. D., &c. &c.

                  -------------------------------------------
                                   VOL.  II.
                        --------------------------------


                            LEPUS CALLOTIS.--Wagler.
                              [Lepus Californicus]

                               BLACK TAILED HARE.
                           [Black-tailed Jack Rabbit]

                              PLATE LXIII.--MALE.


     L. magnitudine, L. glacialem adaequans, supra flavescente fusco canoque
varius, subtus albus; auribus pedibusque praelongis, cauda longa, nigra.


                                  CHARACTERS.

     Size of the polar hare; ears and legs, very long; tail, long and black;
mottled with gray and yellowish-brown above, beneath, white.


                                   SYNONYMES.

     LEPUS CALLOTIS, Wagler, 1832.
     LEPUS NIGRICAUDATUS, Bennett, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of
       London, 1833, p. 41, marked in the Catalogue of the Zoological Society,
         582.
     LEPUS NIGRICAUDATUS, Bachman, Journal of the Academy Nat. Sciences,
       philadelphia, vol. vii., pt. 1, p. 84, an. 1839.


                                  DESCRIPTION.

     This interesting species is similar to others composing a certain group of
hares found in America, characterized by being large, and having very long ears,
and long and slender legs and bodies, the whole form indicating capacity for
long leaps and rapid locomotion.  In all these characteristics, Lepus Callotis
approaches nearest to TOWNSEND's hare, (Lepus Townsendii,) which may be
considered the type of this group.


                                    COLOUR.

     The whole of the upper surface, fawn colour, tipped with black; hairs on
the back, silvery gray for one-third of their length, then pale fawn, then
black, then fawn, tipped with black.  Back of the neck, brownish black, slightly
tipped with fawn.  A number of hairs of unusual length, (two and one-fourth
inches,) and delicately interspersed along the sides; in the greatest abundance
along the shoulders.  These hairs are black from the base for two-thirds of
their length, the remainder pale fawn; sides, and under parts of the neck, dingy
pale fawn, gradually becoming white on the chest; haunches, legs and under
surface white; the hairs on the rump annulated with black, and near the root of
the tail almost entirely black; the whole of the tail on the upper surface to
the extremity black; on the under surface the hairs are black from the roots,
slightly tipped with grayish brown.  Hairs on the under surface of the feet, in
some specimens red, in others a soiled yellowish-brown.  Ears, posteriorly for
two-thirds of their breadth black at the roots, gradually blending into fawn,
and on the inner third the longitudinal line of demarcation being very distinct;
this fawn colour is mixed with black hairs, edged at the tip with black, the
remainder of the edge fawn; the outer margin of the posterior surface to its
apex pure white.  Inner surface of the ears nearly naked, except at the outer
edge, where they are clothed with short grizzled brown hairs.  Whiskers white
and black, the former predominating; chin and throat, white.  The marginal line
of demarcation between the colour of the back and that of the under surface, is
somewhat abrupt across the upper portion of the thighs, and very distinctly
marked.


                                  DIMENSIONS.

                                                                  Inches.

     Length from point of nose to root of tail,.  .  .  .  .  .   20
     Tail (vertebrae), .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    1 1/2
     Tail including fur,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    2 1/2
     From heel to longest nail, .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    4 3/4
     Head over the curve, .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    4 1/2
     From eye to nose, .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    1 3/4
     Ears posteriorly, .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    4 3/4
     Greatest breadth, .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    2 1/3


                                    HABITS.

     Our account of this species is principally derived from the journals of J.
W. AUDUBON, kept during his journey through part of Texas, made for the purpose
of procuring the animals of that State, and obtaining some knowledge of their
habits for our present work, in 1845 and 1846, with an extract from which we now
present our readers.
     "One fine morning in January, 1845, at San Antonio de Bexar, as I mounted
my faithful one-eyed chesnut horse, admiring his thin neck and bony legs, his
delicate head and flowing flaxen tail and mane, I was saluted with a friendly
good morning by Mr. CALAHAN, then holding the important office of mayor of the
little village; and on his ascertaining that my purpose was to have a morning
hunt on the prairies and through the chapparal, which I did day after day, he
agreed to accompany me in search of the animals I was anxiously trying to
obtain, and in quest of which I rode over miles of prairie with my bridle on the
knobbed pummel of my Texan saddle, the most comfortable saddle I have ever
tried, (being a sort of half Spanish, half English build,) my horse with his
neck stretched out and his head about on a level with his shoulders, walking
between four and five miles an hour, turning to the right or to the left
agreeably to the slightest movement of my body, so well was he trained, leaving
both hands and eyes free, so that I could search with the latter every twig,
tussock or thicket, and part the thick branches of the chapparal of musquit,
prickly holly, and other shrubs, which I am inclined to think quite equal to any
East-Indian jungle in offering obstructions to the progress of either horse or
man.
     Mr. CALAHAN having mounted, we set out, and after about an hour's hard
work, occupied in crossing one of the thickest covers near the town, gained the
broad and nearly level prairie beyond, across which to the west we could see
varied swelling undulations, gradually fading into the faint outline of a
distant spur, perhaps of the rocky chain of mountains that in this latitude lie
between the water courses flowing toward the Gulf of Mexico, and the streams
that empty into the Gulf of California: so far away indeed seemed these faint
blue peaks that it required but a little stretch of the imagination to fancy the
plains of California but just at the other side.  I was enchanted with the
scene, scarcely knowing whether the brilliant fore-ground of cacti and tropical
plants, the soft indefinite distance, or the clear summer blue sky, was most
beautiful.  My companion observing my enthusiasm, warmed into praises of his
adopted country, he had, he said, fought hard for it, and exclaimed, it is a
country worth fighting for; when my reply, of whatever nature it might have
been, was prevented, and all ideas of blue mountains, vast rolling prairies,
&c., were cut short by a jackass rabbit bounding from under our horses' feet; he
was instantly followed by my worthy friend the mayor at full speed on his white
pony, to my great annoyance, for otherwise he would have stopped in a hundred
yards or so.  Away they went, and as my friend's horse was a running nag, he
doubtless expected to overtake the Hare, which had only gained about fifty yards
start during our momentar