01 January 06, 1963 - Wild rabbits in winter
Wild rabbits in winter
Exclusive Sunday Review sketch by Dennis Puleston of Brookhaven
FOCUS on Nature by Poul Stoutenburgh, Cutchogue
For those of you interested in
the results of this year's Christ-
mas Count, be sure to watch
next week's column as Gilbert
Raynor will bring us the complete
tabulation and significance of this
all important day.
No matter how foreign a per-
son might -be to the world of
Natural History, I am sure it
would be safe to say that every-
one knows the rabbit, particularly
the children for he has beear im-
mortalized throughout history in
marry well -known children's tales.
Here on Long Island we have
the cottontail yet, if we were in
some more, northerly parts of our
country, the association m i g h t
well be with the snowshoe or
varying hare. The big difference,
naturally, lies in their size; the
cottontail being relatively small
and weighing only two to three
pounds while the snowshoe boasts
of four to six pounds.
Because of his extra size, the
hare reliies on speed to out dis-
tance hips many enemies. This is
done in remarkable spurts with
jumps well over twenty feet. Our
cottontail on the other hand, con -
fines himself to a relatively small
area where he employs a host of
tricks in hopes of losing his pur-
suer.
First, and probably the m o s t
important, is the rabbit's ability
to freeze and remain immobile
until practically stepped on: Then
with a zig - zag burst of s p e e d
that just about startles one out of
his wits, he's off leaving only a
blinking white tail to mark his
retreat. ' This fluffy white tail,
seen only when running, gives
him Ins name cottontail. Should a
dog be in hot pursuit, the rabbit
will instinctively circle about re-
turning to his first point of de-
parture. It is here he seems to
try to confuse his pursuer who
many times will take up the
scent and continue on the old
trail while Mr Rabbit who h as
cleverly side- stepped along the
way, sits. motionless off to the
side watching the game.
Of course, this maneuver does
not always work and so he'll try
another. When all else fails, he
heads for an underground b u r-
row, and old irrigation pipe, the
neighbor's woodpile or some safe
retreat leaving barking dogs and
frustrated hunters 'behind.
Another difference 'between the
cottontails and hares is that the
former are born with their eyes
closed and naked. The hares, on
the other hand, are all set to
explore the dangerous world they
live in at birth having their eyes
wide open and being fully clothed.
This is in sharp contrast to the
weak, helpless ,young of the cot-
tontail that must lay in their :rest
for a week or more before their
eyes open. It is during this time
that the mother leaves the nest
during the day and returns at
night to nurse the young. Keep-
ing away from the vest is na-
ture's Way gf pMyiding safety, for
these young rabbits at this time.
U s u a l l y after two weeks the
young are developed enough to
take care of themselmes and start
to explore the dangerous world
they live in. If it isn't the cold
or a torrential downpour that
takes them, it well could be their
discovery by dogs, cats, snakes
or even birds as these do in
about two thirds of every young
litter. Even the remaining f e w
have a continual struggle against
the overwhelming odds of preda-
tors that cut down Mr Average
Rabbit's life to less than a year.
To overcome these tremendous
odds nature has made them pro-
lific breeders. Two, three or four
litters of young a year are not
unusual, _ the only limiting factor
being the weather. So cleverly
are the nests concealed by the
parents that it is all but impos-
sible to find them and it is only
by accident that one is likely to
stumble upon one.
Unfortunately one such nest was
uncovered in a nearby field this
year when a farmer was plow-
ing. The nest was made of leaves
and grass and lined with fur-from
the mother. All had been killed
except one. Naked and eyes still
shut we took it home in hopes of
saving it. Peggy, our little girl,
supplied s doll's bottle for nursing
and Barbara, my wife, warmed
some milk and fed him. To keep
him warm a bottle filled w i t h
warm water was put in A box
which seemed- to provide the
needed warmth and security. Two
days later his eyes opened and
strength seemed to come giving
him mobility. Within a week we
had the most perfect miniature
rabbit one could imagine— start-
ing to take solid foods and scamp-
ering about.
In general, the cottontails as a
group can be found from coast to
coast from the southern Canadian
borders down through the states
and into South America as far
south as Argentina. From o u r
own sea level meadows to the
r a n g e of 14,000 feet atop Mt
Origaba, in Mexico, some species
of cottontail abounds.
During the day few rabbits are
seen because they lay low in what
is called a "form" which is noth-
ing more than a depression in
the grass, leaves, etc. It is here
they remain motionless and await
evening. Mainly nocturnal, we see
them mostly as evening approach-
es for it is only in this dim light
that the sharp eye catches them
as they start to move about.
Of course, there is no d o u b t
about rabbits in the area once it
snows. For it seems then t h at
everywhere rabbit tracks are to
be fouxid. Yet, we know that these
tracks are seldom more t h an
one or two paths investigating
every available source of food.
Their diet, is mainly vegetable
which can include anything from
your best rose bush, or pansies,
to the many vegetab'e crops and
grasses., found throughout our
countryside. Probably the safest
statement about their eating hab-
its would be to say that what-
ever vegetable matter is avail,
able they will surely find it.
In some areas where rabbits
have increased because of man's
killing of predators, such as the
fox and the hawk, rabbits do
great damage to crops. Also in
orchard areas, the girdling or
gnawing of bark around the base
of trees can cause serious dam-
age.
Probably the most drastic ex-
ample of this would be where rab-
bits were introduced into Austral-
ia and no natural enemy w as
there to control them. Here they
iterally took over the countryside,
eating the pasture lands to such
a degree that the sheep and cat-
tle starved. This happened to
some extent in our own midwest,
as I said before, where predators
had been killed off and uncon-
t r o 11 e d populations developed.
Here on Long Island the rabbit
seems to do well even though
houses are springing up all about.
The :'netting pressure does lit -
tle to deplete them and probably
more rabbits are killed by cars
than all the hunters put together.
One thing we find ourselves con-
cerned with whenever we hear of
rabbits is the dreaded disease
tularemia or rabbit fever which
c o m e s from handling infected
rabbits. This is transmitted by a
tick, which we all know L o n g
Island is well supplied with, yet
I have been assured by l o c a l
authori-ti,es that we do not have
to worry about this disease. So,
we can be sure the Long Island
cottontail is well established: in
our ranks and thank goodness
that those who roam our fields
and woods will always be start-
ed from underfoot as the cotton-
tail takes off!
FIELD OBSERVATIONS
Laurence Ernest reports:
Meeox — December 22
Hooded Mergansers (2)
Killdeer (8)
Wilson's Snipe (6)
Night Herons (3)
East Hampton — December 23 ,
Mockingbird
Snow Goose
Shinnecock — December 24
Purple Sandpipers
Goldfinch (20)
Southampton — December 25
Oriole — female