The early explorers and settlers found the white-tailed jack rabbits abundant in eastern Washington. With the invasion and spread of the black-tailed jack rabbit, and the reduction of native bunchgrass through overgrazing by livestock, the whitetail has become rare. In several years of field work on the Columbian Plateau, I saw none. Near Wallula, the type locality, residents had not seen whitetails for years, but thought there might be a few left "back in the hills." There are thought to be a few left near Ellensburg and Yakima. Only in the Okanogan Valley are the whitetails holding their own; they are reasonably common there. In winter they come down from the hills on to the sagebrush flats along the Okanogan River in Okanogan County. In January it is not unusual to see as many as five in a day's drive. When, as will most certainly occur, the black-tailed jack rabbit enters the Okanogan Valley, the splendid whitetail may be expected to disappear from Washington. Because this species has been so reduced in numbers, no distributional map has been included. Taylor and Shaw (1929: 28) give its range as: "north to Oroville, east to Pullman, south to Asotin, Walla Walla, and Kennewick, and west to Lake Chelan (Manson), Yakima Valley, and Klickitat County." This range is similar to that of the Nuttall Cottontail (Fig. 129). =Lepus americanus= Erxleben Snowshoe rabbit _Description._--The appearance, size, and proportions of the snowshoe rabbit are similar to those of the Belgian hare. The body is about 16 inches in length, the ears are midway in size between those of the cottontail and the jack rabbit, and the feet are relatively long and the tail is short. In summer the color of the upper parts is reddish brown, varying with the subspecies. The winter pelage of _Lepus a. washingtonii_ is a slightly paler brown than the summer coat. In the other three races in Washington the winter coat is entirely white, except for the dusky borders of the ears. Snowshoe rabbits occur in Alaska, Canada, and the northern United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They are absent in desert or prairie regions but range far southward in the United States in mountainous areas. They are found throughout Washington, except on the Columbian Plateau and in the Okanogan River Valley. None of the four races found in Washington is restricted exclusively to the state. Snowshoe rabbits live only in wooded areas. Their habitat varies from dense, impenetrable rain-forests along the ocean to the alpine parks, dotted with trees, of the Hudsonian Life-zone. They occur in humid and arid subdivisions of the Transition, Canadian, and Hudsonian life-zones. Altitudinally they range from sea level to 6,000 feet (Mt. Rainier). Enemies of the snowshoe rabbit include the coyote, bobcat, lynx, long-tailed weasel, and great horned owl.