Throughout its range the gray-sided jack rabbit is preyed upon by a host of enemies, including wolves, coyotes, wildcats, eagles, and several species of hawks and owls. As a result it has become extremely cunning and watchful. It is a beautiful sight to observe the cautious grace with which one that suspects danger but thinks itself unobserved will quietly move out of its form, pause like a statue for a few seconds, then raise its body into a sitting posture and look keenly about, its great upstanding ears turning sensitively to one side and the other, delicately testing the air for sound waves, which may spell approaching peril. If not alarmed it may then move slowly along by a series of easy little hops, occasionally varied by the single-footed gait of most other mammals. At such times the ears are often raised and lowered as though worked by some mechanism. If the rabbit becomes alarmed, however, it leaps away in quick, springy and graceful bounds, now and then making a high soaring leap as if to command a better view. These occasional high leaps mark the first stages of alarm. In greater stress, when pursued by a coyote or other swift-footed enemy, the jack rabbit indulges in no such showy performances, but gets down to serious work, and developing marvelous action in a continuous series of rapid, low stretching leaps, with ears lying flat along the shoulders, it skims over the ground almost as swiftly as a bird. Coursing jack rabbits with greyhounds was for many years a favorite sport in different parts of the West. No other dog has much chance for success in the open pursuit of these animals. [Illustration: THE TRACKS OF THE JACK RABBIT The tracks of the western jack rabbit resemble those of the cottontail (see page 492), but the feet are seldom paired; a typical set is seen in the lower left-hand corner. The bounds cover 10, 12, or even 15 feet each. The tail is held down, so that it leaves a mark in the snow between each bound. Sometimes the animal makes a spy-hop--that is, hops up high to look around. This is seen in the track.] Ordinarily jack rabbits are mute, but when wounded and caught they not infrequently utter a series of long-drawn wailing shrieks which are movingly expressive of terror and pain. Since the settlement of the Western States numberless predatory animals have been killed and at the same time the cultivation of the soil has produced a dependable increase in the food supply. These changes have resulted in the sporadic increase of jack rabbits in many parts of their range, from Texas to Oregon, until at times they have become a serious menace to agriculture.