lies within the state of Washington; the greater part is in
British Columbia. In Washington it occupies the timbered areas
north of the Columbia River, east of the Okanogan River, and west
of the Kettle River Range. Records are (Dalquest, 1942: 182):
Molson, Danville and Republic. In the 1942 paper, the latter
locality was erroneously listed under _pineus_.
=Lepus californicus deserticola= Mearns
Black-tailed jack rabbit
_Lepus texianus deserticola_ Mearns, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 18:564,
June 24, 1896.
_Lepus texianus wallawalla_ Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington,
17:137, July 14, 1904 (type from Touchet, Walla Walla County,
Washington).
_Lepus californicus deserticola_ Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, 29:137,
August 31, 1909.
_Type._--Obtained at western edge of Colorado desert, Imperial
County, California; type in American Museum of Natural History.
_Measurements._--Three males and 4 females from Union Gap, Yakima
County, average, respectively: total length 538, 539; length of
tail 72, 71; hind foot 128, 124; ear 120, 124. Two females from
the same locality weighed 5 and 6-1/2 pounds, respectively.
_Distribution._--The Columbian Plateau, southeastern Washington,
and the Yakima Valley area. The northernmost locality record is
Moses Coulee (W.W.D.).
_Remarks._--The blacktail is the commonest jack rabbit of the West. It
is larger than the domestic rabbit and its enormous ears, long, gangling
legs, and bounding gait make it appear even larger than it really is.
Its iron-gray color, black tail and black ear tips match its sagebrush
habitat.
[Illustration: FIG. 128. Distribution of the black-tailed jack rabbit,
_Lepus californicus deserticola_, in Washington.]
Black-tailed jack rabbits reach the northern limit of their distribution
on the Columbian Plateau of eastern Washington. They extend from
Washington south to the Valley of Mexico and from the Pacific Coast east
to Missouri (Nelson, 1909: 127). About 20 races are recognized, of which
only one is native to Washington.
The blacktail is restricted to the Upper Sonoran Life-zone. Seldom is it
found far from sagebrush (_Artemisia_) and rabbitbrush (_Chrysothamus_).
It is well adapted to desert life, and is able to withstand the bitterly
cold winters and hot, dry summers of eastern Washington. Blacktails are
active in the evening, night, morning, and cooler parts of the day. In
the daytime they crouch in forms consisting of shallow depressions at
the bases of shrubs.
Blacktails eat the twigs and leaves of sagebrush, rabbitbrush, other
desert shrubs, and grasses. They are particularly fond of alfalfa and
cultivated crops, of which they destroy great quantities. They are
serious pests during periodic years of abundance. Some measure of their
abundance may be gained by counting the bodies of jack rabbits killed by
cars on well-traveled highways through sagebrush areas. In years of
abundance these may number 50 to 100 per mile, while in years of
scarcity these may number only one or two.
Black-tailed jack rabbits are susceptible to numerous parasites and
diseases including tularemia. Diseased rabbits are especially noticeable
during years of abundance. Jack rabbits are almost never used as food
although many are shot for sport or to protect crops.
The black-tailed jack rabbit is a swift runner. Cottam and Williams
(1943: 263) timed 6 individuals while running under varying conditions.
Full speeds for 50 to 300 yards varied from 27 to 38 miles per hour. The
maximum speed was attained by two individuals, each for 100 yards.
Embryos found in March numbered 4, 5 and 6.
=Sylvilagus nuttallii nuttallii= (Bachman)
Nuttall cottontail
_Lepus nuttallii_ Bachman, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia,
7:345, 1837.
_Lepus artemisia_ Bachman, Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia,
8:94, 1839 (type from Wallula, Walla Walla County, Washington).
[_Lepus sylvaticus_] var. _Nuttallii_ Allen, Proc. Boston Soc.
Nat. Hist., 17:434, February 17, 1875.
_Lepus sylvaticus Nuttalli_ True, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 7:601,
1885.
_Sylvilagus (Sylvilagus) nuttallii_ Lyon, Smithsonian Misc. Coll.,
45 (no. 1456):336, June 15, 1904.
_Sylvilagus nuttalli_ Nelson, N. A. Fauna, 29:201, August 31,
1909.
_Type._--Obtained near mouth of Malheur River, Malheur County,
Oregon. by T. Nuttall in August, 1834; type in Philadelphia Academy
of Natural Sciences.
_Measurements._--Two males and 4 females from Moses Lake, Grant
County, average, respectively: total length 355, 348; length of
tail 33, 35; hind foot 83, 83; ear 63.5, 60.
_Distribution._--The Columbian Plateau, Okanogan Valley, Yakima
Valley and Columbia Valley in southeastern Washington; in general,
the sagebrush area of eastern Washington; north in the Okanogan
River Valley to Oroville and in the Columbia Valley to Kettle
Falls (W.W.D., records not all shown on map).
_Remarks._--Nuttall cottontails are small, grayish-brown rabbits with
relatively short, rounded ears and short legs. Their small size and
small ears, which lack black tips, distinguish them from jack rabbits
where the two occur together.
[Illustration: FIG. 129. Distribution of the Nuttall cottontail.
_Sylvilagus nuttallii nuttallii_, in Washington.]
The genus _Sylvilagus_ is found in both North and South America. The
species _nuttallii_, with three subspecies, is restricted to the western
part of the United States. It ranges from southern Canada south to
central New Mexico and from western South Dakota west to the Cascades. A
single race occurs in Washington. Nuttall cottontails depend on cover
for concealment from enemies. They frequent thick stands of tall
sagebrush, riparian thickets, or rocky coulees. Seldom are they
encountered in the open. In the sand-dune areas near Moses Lake
cottontails were abundant in the dense, thorny thickets about potholes
and in areas of tall sagebrush. They are especially common near the
talus at the bases of the walls of Grand Coulee, and Moses Coulee where
they do not hesitate to enter crevices in rock slides for protection.
Indeed, cottontails are abundant everywhere within their range in the
state of Washington, where suitable cover and food are present. They
seem to be confined to the Upper Sonoran Life-zone.
Cottontails are most active at night, as is attested by the number
killed then by automobiles on highways. The greatest number are seen by
observers in the morning and evening but it is not unusual to see an
animal feeding at midday. When startled they dash for the nearest
thicket or pile of rocks with their tiny white tails erect. They travel
in relatively straight lines and do not dash from side to side in flight
as do jack rabbits. They sometimes seek concealment by "freezing"
motionlessly in plain sight. When feeding undisturbed they travel by
slow hops.
The trails of cottontails are characteristic of thickets in sagebrush
country. The trails are narrow, less than four inches wide, and often
enter thickets of strong, thorny growths which can scarcely be
penetrated by man. Near Okanogan Lake the trails of cottontails were
found among greasewood bushes on hard-packed gravel. Trails are usually
most abundant in thickets near water. Permanent trails are not made
through low sagebrush or over sandy areas where the animals prefer to
pick their way when traveling from one clump of cover to another.
Nuttall cottontails probably eat many desert grasses, annuals, and
shrubs; observation indicates that sagebrush (_Artemisiae tridentata_)
and rabbit brush (_Chrysothamnus nauseosus_) are particularly important
as food.
The young of cottontails in Washington seem to vary from one to four per
litter and are born between April and June.
=Sylvilagus floridanus= (Allen) subsp.?
Florida cottontail
_Lepus sylvaticus floridanus_ Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.,
3:160, October 8, 1890.
_Sylvilagus floridanus_ Lyon, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., 45 (no.
1456):322, June 15, 1904.
_Description._--Slightly larger than the sagebrush cottontail; smaller
than the snowshoe rabbit; ears small; color of upper parts pinkish
cinnamon-brown; sides pale grayish-cinnamon; underparts white; nape of
neck cinnamon; chest band paler cinnamon; tail brown above, white
beneath; forefeet and sides of hind feet cinnamon.
_Remarks._--The Florida cottontail is not native to the state of
Washington but has been introduced at several localities. It is
spreading rapidly at the present time. Points of introduction include
Pullman, Whitman County (1926-1927); Battleground, Clark County (1933);
Auburn, King County (1927); and Whidby Island, Island County (1931). At
least two subspecies (_mearnsi_, _alacer_) have been introduced and a
third (_similis_) may have been introduced.
For further information on introduced cottontails see Dalquest (1941B:
408-411).
=Sylvilagus idahoensis= (Merriam)
Pigmy rabbit
_Lepus idahoensis_ Merriam. N. Amer. Fauna, 5:75, July 30, 1891.
_Brachylagus idahoensis_ Lyon, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., 45 (no.
1456):323, June 15, 1904.
_Sylvilagus idahoensis_ Grinnell, Dixon and Linsdale, Univ.
California Publ. Zoöl., 35:553, October 10, 1930.
_Type._--Obtained in the Pahsimeroi Valley, Custer County, Idaho,
by V. Bailey and B. H. Dutcher on September 16, 1890; type in
United States National Museum.
_Distribution._--Known only from the central part of the Columbian
Plateau.
_Description._--The pigmy rabbit is a tiny species, differing from the
cottontail in smaller size, paler, grayer color, shorter ears and
smaller legs.
The pigmy rabbit is restricted to the Great Basin region. No subspecies
has been described. It is rare and of local occurrence in Washington,
having been recorded only from the central part of the Columbian
Plateau. Orr (1940), who studied the species in California, found them
only in stands of tall, dense sage (_Artemisiae tridentata_). It is a
burrowing form, not straying far from its hole.
=Cervus canadensis= (Erxleben)
Elk or wapiti
_Description._--The elk, next to the moose, is our largest deer. The
legs of the elk are slender. The tail is a short, pointed stub a few
inches long. The neck is thick in proportion to the head. Both males and
females possess the canine teeth familiar as "elk tooth charms." Only
the males possess antlers. These are huge, slender beams that curve up,
out and back with the basal tine or "dog killer" and four to six points
on each antler. The antlers are deciduous and are shed annually. The
body is grayish or tan in color. The head, neck, chest and legs are
rich, dark brown, strongly contrasting with the paler body. The
distinctive rump patch is pale tan or white.
In the past the elk was found over most of the forested areas of
Washington. Lumbering, agriculture and settlement as well as excessive
hunting removed it from parts of eastern Washington and all except the
most inaccessible parts of the lowlands of western Washington. Only in
the Cascade and Olympic Mountains and the coastal strip between the
Columbia River and the Olympic Mountains, did the elk survive in
appreciable numbers. Conservationists and a more enlightened game policy
began to protect the elk at the turn of the century. It was already too
late to save the species in eastern Washington, where it seems never to
have been truly abundant and where relatively open country afforded
little protection from the high-powered rifle. In the dense, rugged
forests of western Washington a sizable number remained on the Olympic
Peninsula and these, under protection, increased to their present
numbers. The dense, tangled forests of the southwestern coastal area and
the western Cascades lack conditions suitable to support truly large elk
herds. These areas probably now have as large an elk population as can
safely be supported and fed.
The elk of eastern Washington had disappeared or nearly disappeared by
1910. The race originally occurring there was the Rocky Mountain form;
it has been reintroduced from Montana and Wyoming into northeastern
Washington and the Blue Mountains area. These plantings have not been
very successful. Introduced in the eastern Cascades, however, the Rocky
Mountain elk thrived and increased on what was probably once the
peripheral range of the coastal elk.
The habits of the elk are best known from the herds in the Olympic
Mountains and on the Rattlesnake Game Refuge in the eastern Cascade
Mountains. Here the animals are numerous and relatively tame. Their
habits seem to differ somewhat in the forests of the lowlands from
those of the animals in the higher Olympics where the topography and
climate are very different.
[Illustration: FIG. 130. Elk or wapiti (_Cervus canadensis nelsoni_),
Banff, Alberta, October, 1939. (G. A. Thomas photo.)]
The elk is a social animal, gathering in herds over most of the year.
The old males leave the herds in the spring but seem to stay in small
bands while their antlers are growing. In the Olympic Mountains, herds
of 100 or more animals have been seen. In the lowlands there are
ordinarily from five to ten in a herd.
[Illustration: FIG. 131. Group of elk or wapiti (_Cervus canadensis
nelsoni_), Banff, Alberta, October 10, 1939. (G. A. Thomas photo.)]
The elk is a browsing animal, feeding on twigs and leaves of deciduous
trees, shrubs and evergreens. In spring and summer it eats grasses and
succulent annuals, but in winter twigs and needles of evergreens,
perennial ferns, dry grass and even moss is utilized. To a certain
extent the elk are migratory, ascending to the open meadows of the
Hudsonian Life-zone in the early summer and returning to the dense
forests of the Transition and lower Canadian Life-zones with the winter
snows. The lowland elk make no such migrations, merely leaving the
riverbottom jungles when the leaves are off the deciduous plants
growing there, and live in the coniferous timber.
In the forests the elk is capable of swift and almost silent movement.
It is an eerie experience to trail a herd of elk through a dense forest
in a winter rain, knowing that a number of the large animals are within
a few feet, moving swiftly but silently away. When a herd is feeding and
does not suspect the presence of an observer, the animals rustle
branches, break twigs, snort and wheeze as they breathe.
The antlers of the males are shed in March. The bulls retire from the
herd until the new horns are well grown, in late August or September.
Breeding takes place in September or October and the young are born the
following April or May.
=Cervus canadensis roosevelti= Merriam
_Cervus roosevelti_ Merriam, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 11:272,
December 17, 1897.
_Cervus canadensis occidentalis_ Taylor and Shaw, Occ. Papers
Chas. R. Conner Mus., 2:29, December, 1929.
_Type._--Obtained on Mount Elaine, Mason County, Washington, by H.
and C. Emmet on October 4, 1897; type in United States National
Museum.
_Racial characters._--A large, dark elk with short, heavy antlers.
_Measurements._--The type measured, in the flesh (Bailey,
1936:81): total length 2,490; tail 80; ear (dry) 208.
_Distribution._--From the Cascade Mountains westward; possibly
occurred formerly in the eastern Cascades, and perhaps still
present there, in places, or mixed with introduced _nelsoni_.
_Remarks._--For use of the name _roosevelti_ rather than
_occidentalis_ see Bailey (1936:81).
=Cervus canadensis nelsoni= Bailey
_Cervus canadensis canadensis_ Taylor and Shaw, Occ. Papers Chas.
R. Conner Mus., 2:29, December, 1929.
_Cervus canadensis nelsoni_ Bailey, Proc. Biol. Sec. Washington,
48:188, November 15, 1935.
_Type._--Obtained at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, by J.
Pitcher; died in captivity on September 21, 1904; type in United
States National Museum.
_Description._--Smaller and paler than _roosevelti_ with longer,
slimmer antlers.
_Distribution._--Formerly occurred in northeastern Washington and
the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington. Since then
exterminated and reintroduced to both areas from the Rocky
Mountains. Also introduced and established in the eastern
Cascades.
=Odocoileus virginianus= (Boddaert)
White-tailed deer
_Description._--The white-tailed deer differs from the black-tailed and
mule deer in several anatomical details. The tail is long, wide, and
when the animal is frightened is carried upright with the long, white
hair of the underside spread out. The antlers of the buck are not of a
biramous system of branching but instead consist of a main beam which
curves sharply out and forward, remaining low. All subsidiary tines,
save the basal one, emerge from the dorsal side of the main beam. The
basal tine is usually a spurlike point arising vertically from the main
beam not far from the base of the antler. In exceptional specimens the
basal tine is large and divided into several points. The body of the
"whitetail" is more smoothly rounded, and more graceful, than that of
the mule deer.
[Illustration: FIG. 132. White-tailed deer (_Odocoileus virginianus
leucurus_), doe at least nine years old, kept as a pet by Mrs. Jack
Hovis, Puget Island, Washington, December 16, 1939. (Fish and Wildlife
Service photo by Victor B. Scheffer, No. 750.)]
White-tailed deer range from Canada south to Panama and from the
Atlantic to the Pacific. Their range is much more extensive to the east
and south than that of the "blacktail" and mule deer. In western
Washington the whitetail occupies a limited habitat near the mouth of
the Columbia River. Its geographic range was probably somewhat greater
in the past. Its habitat includes the low, damp, marshy islands and
floodplain of the Columbia. Blacktail range in the wooded hills
surrounding the whitetail's range but rarely enter it to compete with
the whitetail (Scheffer, 1940A: 282).
In northeastern Washington the whitetail shows the same tendency to
occupy low, marshy areas and valleys. The habitat preference of the
whitetail in northeastern Washington is less exact than in western
Washington, for the species ranges up from the valleys into the forests
of larch and cottonwood of the Transition Life-zone. Its habitat
includes denser forest and brushy areas. Rarely does it occur in the
open type of forest occupied by the mule deer.
[Illustration: FIG. 133. White-tailed deer (_Odocoileus virginianus
ochrourus_): fawn kept as a pet by L. E. Borud, Ione, Washington, June
13, 1938. (Fish and Wildlife Service photo by Victor B. Scheffer, No.
69.)]
In Washington the whitetail is not an important game animal. The race
occurring in western Washington is characterized by small size and small
antlers. Further, its total population is estimated at but 400 to 900
individuals. The whitetail of northeastern Washington is larger and
possesses larger antlers. Indeed, some antlers from Ferry County are the
largest antlers of whitetail that I have ever seen. Nevertheless, the
whitetail of northeastern Washington is smaller than the mule deer and
far less common. The habitat is dense and difficult to traverse. The
animal is shy and silent, fleeing soundlessly when approached. For these
reasons most hunters in northeastern Washington prefer to hunt the mule
deer.
[Illustration: FIG. 134. White-tailed deer (_Odocoileus virginianus
ochrourus_): left antler found on ground at Park Rapids, Pend Oreille
County, Washington, October 1, 1937. (Fish and Wildlife Service photo
by Victor B. Scheffer, No. 756.)]
=Odocoileus virginianus ochrourus= Bailey
_Odocoileus virginianus macrourus_ Taylor and Shaw, Occ. Papers
Chas. R. Conner Mus., 2:30, December, 1929.
_Odocoileus virginianus ochrourus_ Bailey, Proc. Biol. Soc.
Washington, 45:43, April 2, 1932.
[Illustration: FIG. 135. White-tailed deer (_Odocoileus virginianus
leucurus_), antlers of large buck killed in the fall of 1939 at
Cathlamet, Washington, by Paul Lewis. (Fish and Wildlife Service photo
by Victor B. Scheffer. No. 752.)]
_Type._--Obtained at Coolin, south end of Priest Lake, Bonner
County, Idaho, by F. Lemmer on December 27, 1908; type in United
States National Museum.
_Racial characters._--A large, pale white tail with large, low
antlers and distinctive cranial features.
_Measurements._--The type, an adult male, measures (Bailey, 1936.
p. 43): total length 1,752; tail 265; hind foot 483; ear (dry)
120.
_Distribution._--Northeastern Washington. Probably once occurred
in southeastern Washington.
=Odocoileus virginianus leucurus= (Douglas)
_Cervus leucurus_ Douglas, Zoöl. Jour., 4:330, 1829.
_Odocoileus leucurus_ Thompson, Forest and Stream, 51:286, October
8, 1898.
_Odocoileus virginianus leucurus_ Lydekker, Cat. Ung. Mamm.
British Mus., 4:162, 1915.
_Type._--Obtained on the North Umpqua River, Oregon, by David
Douglas on October 17, 1826; type originally, and perhaps still, in
British Museum.
_Racial characters._--A small, handsome whitetail with slender,
erect antlers and brownish or grayish color.
_Measurements._--A young adult female from 1 mile south of
Skamokawa, Wahkiakum County, measured: total length 1,545; length
of tail 250; hind foot 458; ear 143; weight 88 pounds.
_Distribution._--Previously occurred over much of southwestern
Washington; now confined to the banks and islands of the Columbia
River in Wahkiakum County.
=Odocoileus hemionus= (Rafinesque)
Mule deer and black-tailed deer
_Description._--The mule and black-tailed deer are among deer of medium
to large size. Adult mule deer may weigh up to 400 pounds while some
fully adult blacktail bucks may weigh as little as 100 pounds. The body
is heavily muscled, the legs long and the tail only about 6 inches in
length. The ears are long, from 6 to 8 inches from notch to tip. The
head is long and the male has well-developed antlers. The first antlers
are almost straight spikes. Those of the second year are bent slightly
outward and forward and are equally or subequally forked with the
anterior branch usually the stouter. In the third year the
anteriolateral curvature is more pronounced and one or both of the forks
again fork. In succeeding years forks are larger and more numerous but
the essential biramous arrangement of forking is maintained. The
"blacktail" and mule deer are strongly marked races. The blacktail
differs from the mule deer in: smaller size; darker color, especially on
face and tail; tail dark brown above with dark tip rather than whitish
with black tip; tail haired beneath, not naked for half its length;
antlers smaller and lighter; and skull and teeth smaller.
Mule deer and black-tailed deer range over western North America from
southeastern Alaska southward into northern Mexico. They inhabit
forested parts of the state of Washington. Blacktails occupy the San
Juan Islands, the islands in Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains, the
lowlands of western Washington, and the Cascade Mountains. Mule deer
occupy the Cascades, including their eastern slope, northeastern and
southeastern Washington and parts of the Columbian Plateau. Over this
large range there is considerable local geographic variation.
Jackson (1944: 1-56) estimated that 109,600 blacktail and 175,725 mule
deer live in Washington. Thus Washington is second only to California
in number of blacktail and ranks fifth in number of mule deer.
Individual variation over the range of the mule deer is considerable
but no trends of variation are distinguishable. Mule deer from the
Blue Mountains, northeastern Washington and the eastern Cascades are
essentially similar.