3N0 J-ClIOiC UA3BITS
(ieorge T• i/Jasury.)
Snow-shoe rabbits, tha popular nans for the varying hare, belong to the
Northern drying Hare iJrrap and are f ound 'throughout the North where it per
iodically increases to the greatest abundance and hold’s its numbers for sev
eral years until an opisobtic disease, v;hi :h appears regularly, almost ex
terminates the.;., ihls period seems to run in cycles of three and seven years.
’Iho group none, varying Lure, is due to the fact that the color varies ac
cording to the season, being pale cinner-ion brov/n in summer :anl ulmost ‘diite
i:.i wint 3r. Pne fur is of two kin is, a dense, fine and soft under fur through
which grows an outer coat of thin, course, straight hair, it is the later whi:
gives the aiiiim 1 its color.
It is a night feeding animal, remaining during the day under cover where
the natural camouflage of its color blonds ’with its surroundings. On being
frightened it sits overt to reconnoiter; it then squats immovable with ears
laid flat to its bo ly and legs dram under its body ready to spring or burst
into flight.
Its greatest protection, besides its natural canoufl ige, lies in xts keen
ness of sight, ho ariascent a:h the svriftness of its running, combined with
its marvelous ability in doubling ’’non pursue 1 by its enemies, the fox, mink,
marten, lynx, owls, hawks and mankind.
Pi3 natural grounds it inhabits is brushy an iergrowth which not only
serve to protect it by its denseness but also serves as food as the httre, in
summer, lives o?i green twigs, soft bark, grass, leaves and oerries* ^n winter,
bark of bushes and the berries from the will rose form its food.
They are highly prolific, pairing when scarcely one year old, the fiemale
bring in* in several broods in a year** each brood consisting 01 from two to
five young ones. Pie young are born covered with hair and with eyes open, and
after a month’s suckling, are able to look after themselves.
£is Indians trap and kill the rabbits for food as well as for their fur. me
hide is cut into strips and twisted and woven into a I003Q meshed blanket
which is light and extremely warm. Pie Canada lynx, whose fur according to
November fur reports is valued at fifteen dollars, rolios chiefly on the vary
ing hare for food, taring the years of the hares’ abun lance, the fur sales
at tho markets show that the number of lynx skins receive 1 increases propor
tionately with those of the hare. Then the enizo-Jtic disease appears and al
most exterminates the ha-es, there is an i:neiiate and correspo ldng drop in
the number of lynx skins sent to market.
■.a
u 3 n atu r a e qu al i a e s h sr c h i 11" e n •
JOA^TJIftS MJLLUR ALSO KNOW A3 " ULK-OU?" ; PORx’S AUTOS'*rJ?ti3S IN COLD RUSH—
In reminiscing of the Kionlike lays, Ur. S. Unix Young told of the true
ences of Joncjuino xiilitr, famous baxifornin poou, wnxle repo*. oing -aiC
Klondike rush for the San ?rancisco Chronicle. Miller landed in the Yukon
country short of grab, X3, indeel, did no at others, 'she costume he wore, in
cluding two guns, '/as designel to snow the ten lerfeut now a ra il ^/o sterner did
business, However, it levolved unon reporter 3 fro;1 ^*ew -‘•or:c ml Chicago papers
to tike care of the poetic westerner. In a gre it hurry to le ive the ilorth,
Miller decile! t? walk do’«n the Yukon. Captain Cabinhead, of tne U.a«J.P.was
also r0ing j.yvn the river, so he hurried up after Mill nr, tney f jund him lost,
walking around mid aroun 1 a big island, tninxeing he was 1 oilowing -he river.
"'Ve must be rotting near a settlement; I see more and more tracks coining inco
mine’;said Miller. His toes were air-dy frozen, so that he lost them, where
uioon'he called himself the most"no-toe-rious,V.ni3rican poet. Because of his at
tempt to walk down to the "outside", he was also known as "Walkout" Iiiller.