Judy Patterson, aged 10, of Peoria, Ill., for her question:

How big is a Jack rabbit?

The jack rabbit of the western mountains is second biggest of the rabbit and hare family. Only the Arctic hare is larger, and often they are almost the same size. A giant Jack rabbit can grow almost two feet long. His powerful back legs carry him along in easy twelve foot leaps. Sometimes he leaps in the air just to get a view of the  countryside. He is scouting for his enemy the coyote. At such times he can leap up twenty feet. And, should Mr. Coyote appear, the jack rabbit can outrun him at a steady pace of 35 to 45 miles an hour.

Actually, the jack rabbit is not a rabbit at all. He is a hare and his babies, which are called leverets, can prove it. They are not born in a burrow. Their cradle is a grass‑lined hollow in the ground. They are born with bright eyes wide open and they are fully clothed in soft furry coats.