Evening star., 1900-08-18
COMEDY OF JACK RABBIT
STORIES TOLD BY A FAMOUS PLAINS
MAN AND GUIDE.
While the Animal iB a Born Comedian
There i. PLENTY Of Tragedy
in His LIE.


Somebody ought to write the comedy Of
a jack rabbit" said fBilly'. Hofer, the IA
| nous plainsman and Roekpmountain guide.
| the other day. 'rveiseenjjack rabbits do
| funnier things than were ever done on the
stage. There's tragedy enough about them,
too. What with coyotes and Indians and
snares and greyhounds, a jack rabbit has
his share Of trouble. But let him alone,
and Jack rabbits born comedian.
Il was guiding party of New York peo-
pie through Idaho one summer One OF the
party was a lady, and she carried a fat
little rat terrier dog in her lap. We were
riding and driving across the sage brush
when a big old old jack rabbit got up al
most under the horses feet. The fat, short
winded little black and tan saw the rabbit
get UP, and jumped down from the high
wagon seat - the ground. He started to
bark and jump at the same ume-the little
fool-so he struck the hard dirt with his
mouth wide open, and most Of what little
wind he had naturally was knocked out Of
| him. Then he went scuttling away through
the sage bush, yawping at the top of his
voice.
I'VE all thought 1t was a pretty good
joke, but the jack rabbit had more fun
out of it than anybody else. He was a big
buck, and might have measured twenty
inches from the ground to the tips Of his
ears when he sat up. 1 think he could
jack rabbit would ever fight anything but
another rabbit. I've seen them do that and
couple of big bucks put up a pretty fair
tight -.-,~.
We'll, this big fellow stopped a little way
off and sat up to look at the little, rounu
puffy, short-legged pet pup coming after
him. That amused him so much that he
waited until the fiercely yawpng terrier
was within few feet. Then he hit the
ground couple of sharp raps with his big
hind feet and went off through the brush
a INN lyty,tr .n1r~
der at the little dog and almost grinning
That kept up until the terrier, who had
lost his wind on diet of chocolate creams
was almost dead. Still the buck rabbit
kept tolling him on, running as though his
legs We're broken, and stopping every now
and then to give the fool dog a chance to
catch up.
Finally. the poor little fat brute got lost
in the brush. He'd stop and sit up and look
around over the sage brush for a sight of
the rabbit. And the rabbit would lower its
ears and lie down fiat on the ground SO
that 1t would take sharper eye than that
of a bandy-legged rat terrier 10 make 1T
out. Then the dog would lie down and pant
and the big buck would sit up on its hind
legs. raise its big twin ears and look back
at the unconscious terrier. 1t was funny.
And all the time the rabbit was inviting
him to come along and take stroll.
Come with me and I'll take you out in
the sage brush and lose you for good YOU
fat little rat said the rabbit as plainly as
if he had spoken. and he would have done
SO If the mistress of the terrier had not sent
one of the men 70 gather in her broken
hearted pet.
"One Of the funniest, scenes 1 ever looked
at happened out thett in 1.-The Idaho foot
hills, and jack rabbit was responsible for
at least half of 1t. There was a thick clump
of willows at the edge Of n creek. Around
the bushes ran deep trail leading down
to the water. Up the trail on one side of
the bushes came a flttle bit of bear
cub. waddling along home after a good
drink Of haJf in bo
direction ard on the other side of the bushes
came huge jack rabbt.- Neither one saw
the other until they met face to face in the
center Of the path. Then they both sat up
on their legs and stared hard at each other
both too badly frightened to do anything
else. The bear rubbed his eyes and made
funny. gestures with his fat little front paws
as II to drive away d swarm Of bees The
big rabbit trembled and waved Its big ears
Finally the rabbit tnT,feds and went back
up the path like a gray streak. I'll bet
that bear thinks to this day he had a mar
row escape from instant death.
"a doe rabbit has. from twelve to six
teen little ones at time. 1t makes the
nest on the ground, c'ose TIP under the
roots of the sage brush, Until the little
ones are able to run, and largely after that
time. they depend upon making themselves
invisible to escape their enemies They lay
their ears fiat along the back and then fiat
ten out on the ground. until only trained
eye can pick them up.r I've driven, a band
of horses through the sage brush time after
time and seen the rabbits crawl along fiat
on the ground just enough to keep out Of
the way of the horses hoofs. In the win
ter they have regular runways through the
snow leading down to the creeks. Many of
them are caught then by hanging horse
hair pooses in the center of the trail Just
high enough so that 1t will catch jackrab-
bits head. Then the rabbit jumps forward
and tries to get out and, of course, only
tightens the moose around its neck
Coyotes catch a great many rabbits by
sneaking up on them. and the Indians kill
great many more. The jack rabbits hide
Is thin and easily torn so the Indians tear
it into strips and braid these strips to-
gether Then the braids are sewed together,
and so whole garments are made.
There are not many things more
citing that a jack rabbit chase with grey
hounds. The hound doesn't waste any time
or wind In barking. and the rabbit doesn't
hop off in contemplatiye way and look at
the landscape. Up goes the jack rabbit, and
right after. 1t looks like long streak of
hound gets too c'ose, and the rabbit makes
a quick turn. The dog can't stop and turns
two or three somersauts in the attempt.
Meanwhile Mr.. Rabbit gets a big start in
a direction. But the dog Is the faster,
and sooner or later, both going at the top
of their speed, the hound gets his nose
der the rabbits body, snaps 1t up into the
air and breaks Its back with Its teeth be-
fore it touches the ground. The stories
about the Jack rabbits speed are greatly
exaggerated A seasoned greyhound will
catch one every time"