The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-18
JACK RABBITS.
The Amusing Creatures Can Fight
Fiercely for Fur and Glory.
From the San Francisco Call.

From the San Francisco Call.
On Saturday last battle to finish be-
tween two ra bbits was Witnessed by at
least dozen leashmen, all of whom state
that they had never witnessed a more
novel or interesting contest between man
or beast.
Canavan received from Trapper Brown
ing, of MERGED two consiRnments of
lacks" few weeks ago that for some
reason are on very unfriendly terms; ow-
ing possibly TO the fact of having been
caught In different localities they repre-
sent different tribes of the genus Lepus.
However, the hares, properly called. have
become very belligerent and battles royal
are Of almost daily occurrence in the
park. On Saturday last the patrons Of
the leash were afarded a splendid oppor-
tunity OF seeing a contest TO q finish be-
tween two Of the new arrivals, and a de-
scriptive account Of 1.-THE war; was given
to reporter.
I'VE were chatting over the prospects
ofneXt days coursing and commenting on
the weather." said the speaker, when a
jack was seen crossing the field in the
direction of escape, with another lack in
hot pursuit. At first / thought some
stray dog had gotten into the field at tn e
south end ard was driving the hares to-
ward the breeding peddock. Suddenly
hare No. turned in its track and dashed
at its pursuer They telescoped, so to
speak and then the fight was on. You
should have been there to see the fur fly.
There was no fake about this match; it
was for blood and fur
1.-THE rabbits rolled in the mud after the
first charge, and as they regained their
pins they rose quickly on their hind feet
and slashed at each other with their
front paws in a manner that would have
made champions of the prize ring feel as
il they were as slow as snails in their
movement. | positively never have seen
such fierce fighting AT each stroke the
fur would be sent TO fly in punches, ana
the blows, if they can be termed such,
were fast and furious After minutes
con test the pursued hare made an effort
TO run, but it was 80 badly crippled that
1t lost its equilibrium and fell in the slush,
where 1t received still further punish
ment from its opponent.
I'VE thought that the Jig was up with
No ! and moved slowly toward the spot
where the conflict had taken place. When
within fifty yards Of the fighting quadru-
peds, the hare we supposed was dead or
dying leaped 10 his feet and fought more
viciously than ever, The contest did not
continue much longer as the hare which
had challenged his opponent fell back as
if hit with leaden pellets and lay appa-
rently dead on the field of battle After
driving the successful competitor away
and picking up the PROSTATE animal we
found that both Of its eyes were COM
pletely destroyed and its face horribly
lacerated We easily captured the CON
quering hero and had the two little pu-
gilists cared for as well as circumstances
would permit, but they were too severely
punished to survive their wounds. and
that evening the proprietor OF the park
found himself minus two OF his imported
flyers they had kicked the bucket"
The sportsman further states that when
forwarding hares to this city from where
they are shipped the trapper must pro-
vide coops arranged in such way that
the rabbits are separated from each other
by compartments, otherwise they would
fight until death would end their trouble.
John Dugan, Of Newark Park, lost a
valuable lot Of hares previous TO the in
augural meeting held some years ago.
Shipping hares by express was new ven
ture at that time, and no precautions were
taken by the shippers.