Jackrabbit

“ They superimpose themselves on the hard, physical labour required to plough, harrow, plant, cultivate, keep in repair. Brainerd did not die. The red spots in his cheeks became less vivid. But at times if it had not been for the very jackrabbits, his enemies, he might have died—of starvation. Nowadays people do not eat jackrabbit knowingly. Then they did, and blessed him as the saviour of the situation.
But Brainerd survived, and somehow made a little headway. The bungalow did not get painted; the brown grass grew in the garden ”

“ She must conserve the jerked meat, which together they had smoked so carefully over the smouldering fires, and attend to the traps. She trudged away through the snow, forced to leave Andy to his fate, gaping there at the mouth of the Cave of Hypocritical Frogs. But when she reached the first dead-fall and found a dead jackrabbit beneath the fallen stone she let it lie. One by one she visited other traps, springing them when she found no little dead body, and releasing live quail caught in the quail traps. ”

“ At times jackrabbits get some sort of a plague and die in great numbers. Indeed some years at the ranch they seemed almost to have disappeared. Their carcasses are destroyed almost immediately by the carrion creatures, and their delicate bones, scattered by the ravens, buzzards, and coyotes, soon disintegrate and pass into the soil. ”

“ Part of the country is irrigated, and good crops are grown, but the jackrabbits are so numerous that they come in off the plains adjoining the green spots, at night, and eat everything in sight, so once a year the people get up a rabbit drive and go out in the night by the hundred, on horseback, and surround the country for ten miles or so, and at daylight ride along towards a corral, where thousands of rabbits are driven in and slaughtered with clubs. The men ride close together, with dogs, and no guilty rabbit can escape. ”

“ What he finds there is chiefly conjectured, so secretive are the little people of Naboth's field. Only when leaves fall and the light is low and slant, one sees the long clean flanks of the jackrabbits, leaping like small deer, and of late afternoons little cotton-tails scamper in the runways. But the most one sees of the burrowers, gophers, and mice is the fresh earthwork of their newly opened doors, or the pitiful small shreds the butcher-bird hangs on spiny shrubs. ”

“ Jackrabbits on the Riviera are not like human products of the south. They jump quickly. They jump, too, in directions that cannot be foretold. After one particularly bad throw, the Artist explained that he did not enjoy inflicting pain. ”

“ A gradient series is evident in which the pikas and jack rabbits are the extremes. The black-tailed jack rabbit, for example, in relation to size of the entire animal, has the longest ears and longest hind legs. This kind of lagomorph takes alarm when an enemy, for example, a coyote, is yet a long way off. The jack rabbit seeks safety in running; even when being overtaken by a pursuer that is close behind, the jack rabbit still relies on its running ability instead of entering thick brush or a hole in the ground where its larger-sized pursuer would be unable to follow. ”

“ The black tail with its white halo, and the legs, are tucked below. He is sitting on them. The gray mantle is pulled down and enlarged as he sits, but when he jumps up it shrinks somewhat, all his black-and-white marks are now shown, and just as his colors formerly whispered, "I am a clod," they now shout aloud, "I am a Jack-rabbit."
Why should he do this? Why should a timid creature running for his life thus proclaim to all the world his name instead of trying to hide? There must be some good reason. It must pay, or the Rabbit would never have done it. ”

“ These little animals are called jack-rabbits because their tall, straight ears resemble those of the burros or jackasses. The mesquite bushes, so often seen on the Mexican plains, belong to the acacia family. They yield a sweet edible pulp, used to some extent as food by the poorer classes of natives and by the jack-rabbits. The burros eat the small, tender twigs. Indeed, they will apparently eat anything but stones. We have seen them munching plain straw with infinite relish, in which it seemed impossible there could be any nutrition whatever. ”

“ The next day the Jackal returned to the river to catch crabs for his dinner. But this time he was very cautious. So he called out, “Whenever I go fishing for my dinner, I see the nice little crabs crawling up through the mud, then I reach down and catch them and eat them. Oh, how I wish that I could see a nice little crab!”
The old Alligator was buried in the mud at the bottom of the river and he heard every word, so he popped out the point of his snout, saying to himself, “That Jackal will take the tip of my nose for a crab and, when he puts his paw down to catch me, I will gobble him up.” ”

“ This species seem to have undergone many varieties in Barbary, the East Indies, the Cape of Good Hope, and in other provinces of Africa and Asia. In these hot countries they are large, and their hair is rather of a reddish brown than of a beautiful yellow; and some of them are of different colours. The species of the jackal is spread all over Asia, from Armenia to Malabar; and is found also in Arabia, Barbary, Mauritania, Guinea, and at the Cape of Good Hope. It seems to supply the place of the wolf, which is wanting, or at least, is very scarce in all these hot countries. ”

“ On the tableland of Mexico and in the southwestern United States where this species occurs together with the white-sided jack rabbits, L. californicus can be recognized by the terminal black patch on the outside of each ear and by the less extensive area of white on the flank. To the eastward, in Tamaulipas, where only the black-tailed jack rabbit occurs, it too, has extensively white flanks and some individuals lack the terminal black patch on the ear. ”

“ The old Alligator was so furious that he crawled up on the bank and went after the little Jackal; but, dear, dear, he couldn't catch the little Jackal; he ran far too fast.
After this, the little Jackal did not like to risk going near the water, so he ate no more crabs. But he found a garden of wild figs, which were so good that he went there every day, and ate them instead of shell-fish. ”

“ For two whole weeks the little Jackal kept away from the river. Then, one day he got a feeling inside him that nothing but crabs could satisfy: he felt that he must have at least one crab. Very cautiously, he went down to the river and looked all around. He saw no sign of the old Alligator. Still, he did not mean to take any chances. So he stood quite still and began to talk to himself,—it was a little way he had. He said,—
"When I don't see any little crabs on the shore, or sticking up out of the water, I usually see them blowing bubbles from under the water ”

“ The next day, I was walking along the shore with my gun, when the waves cast at my feet a dead jack-fish; I took it up, and felt, from the keenness of my appetite for animal food, as though I could have immediately devoured it, notwithstanding it bore the marks of having been dead a considerable time. At this moment, I heard the croaking of a raven, and placing the fish upon the bank, as a bait, I shot it from behind a willow, where I had concealed myself, as it lighted upon the ground ”

“ The spring is the time to catch the big Nepigon jack-fish, or pike. They haunt the grassy places in little bogs and coves, and are caught by trolling. A jack-fish is what we call a pike, and John Watt, the famous guide in that country, tells of those fish of such size that when a man of ordinary height held the tail of one up to his shoulder, the head of the fish dragged on the ground. He must be responsible for the further assertion that he saw an Indian squaw drag a net, with meshes seven inches square, and catch two jack-fish, each of which weighed more than fifty pounds when cleaned. ”

“ At first sight one does not understand the necessity for so much wariness, and for such a deep system of entrenchment, for the creatures seem to hold undisputed possession of the whole shore; but as a matter of fact they are preyed upon all day long by Brahminy kites, and when the jackals come out in the evening, by them. Now, although each crab may on ordinary peaceful occasions know its own home, yet when a crowd of them are running for their lives they may sometimes, one would think, act on the devil take the hindmost principle and try to squeeze into the nearest burrow. ”

“ A Jack-rabbit running from its enemy ordinarily covers eight or nine feet at a bound, and once in five or six bounds, it makes an observation hop, leaping not along, but high in the air, so as to get above all herbage and bushes and take in the situation. A silly young Jack will make an observation hop as often as one in four, and so waste a great deal of time. A clever Jack will make one hop in eight or nine, do for observation. But Jack Warhorse as he sped, got all the information he needed, in one hop out of a dozen, while ten to fourteen feet were covered by each of his flying bounds. ”

“ He doesn't own the water rights. The Bubbling Brook belongs to everyone alike."
"So it does," answered Little Jack Rabbit, "but Busy Beaver has to look out for himself. If he doesn't build a dam his little house will be frozen up this winter."
Just then the water rose almost to the ferns that grew on the edge of the Bubbling Brook. "Everything's all right now," said the little rabbit, "I won't bother to go over to the Sunny Meadow. The fishes and the little fresh water crabs will learn the news [63] before I can get there," and he sat down to talk things over with Chatterbox. ”

“ Thousands of people came to see the show on the public square. They wished to know how it would look to see five long-legged, spider jack-rabbits jump over the highest skyscraper in the city.
Four of the jack-rabbits had stripes. The fifth had stripes—and spots. Before they started the show Young Leather and Red Slippers held the jack-rabbits one by one in their arms and petted them, rubbed the feet and rubbed the long ears and ran their fingers along the long legs of the jumpers. ”

“ The seizure of the leg of the Jackal by the Crocodile is common to many folk-tales throughout India, and is an indication of the general groundwork of many Aryan tales.
“Jackal.”—So often described, it is not necessary to do more here than to refer to the fact that they usually hunt in packs. When a jackal is heard to cry without a response, the natives know that he is a lone animal and what they call “Yekaria,” and by some “yeklota,” meaning in Sanscrit “single.” ”

“ The Alligator was so angry that he lashed the water to a foam with his tail. “I will not be tricked again by that saucy Jackal,” he said. “Next time, I will be as cunning as he is and catch him at his own game.”
The Alligator waited for the Jackal many, many days, but the Jackal did not return to the river.
“Who knows,” said the Jackal to himself, “but another time that greedy old Alligator will gobble me up. I will not go fishing for crabs any more. I will eat wild figs after this.” ”

“ Jack-Rabbit is cunning, and when he sees that the long-legged dogs are steadily gaining upon him and getting closer with every jump, he will invariably make a quick turn and run back on his own tracks, often going right underneath the fast-running dogs that cannot stop themselves, and can only give vicious snaps as they jump over him. Their stride—often fifteen and twenty feet—covers so much more ground than the rabbit's, it is impossible for them to make as quick turns, therefore it is generally the slow dog of the pack that catches the rabbit. ”

“ Further photographs and accounts by [27] and Brewer (in litt.) indicate that Johngarthiaplanata is a common element of the urban wildlife and seeks food and shelter in closest proximity to human houses:
“People who have built homes in the jungle near the ocean, however, consider the all-pervasive land crabs quite troublesome. If the crabs can get into the house (they can climb walls!) , they can damage clothing, books, and food. Outside of the house, they are quite hard on garden plants, shredding foliage and damaging plant roots from inside their tunnels. ”

“ The sun may be darkened by clouds for a season, thunderstorms may roll, the sunrise may be veiled by the vapours of morning; but eventually the light of day will break forth through all, and joy will reign supreme. The jackal, on the other hand, is a realist. According to him might is right on earth. The lizard, he remarks, devours the insect, and in its turn becomes the prey of the bat, which is swallowed by the snake, upon which the hawk pounces. ”

“ It was all a trick just to get at our water.’
‘Rabbit, you are no better than an idiot to have let the jackal drink our water when he would not help to find it. Who shall be our next watchman? We must have somebody a little sharper than you!’ and the little hare called out, ‘I will be the watchman.’
The following morning the animals all went their various ways, leaving the little hare to guard the spring. When they were out of sight the jackal came back. ”

“ Among the quadrupeds, some of which were capable of domestication, were the onager and the buffalo, and among the winged tribe were an eagle, which became Fritz's hunting bird, and an ostrich which Jack trained to be his favourite mount.
As for game, both furred and feathered, there was abundance in the woods round about Wood Grange and the hermitage at Eberfurt. Jackal River supplied excellent crayfish. Among the rocks on the shore molluscs and crustaceans swarmed. And finally, the sea teemed with herrings, sturgeon, salmon, and other fish. ”