Cottontail

“ It was intended to make each individual cottontail recognizable in a trap or in the field. Occasionally when a predator had killed and eaten a cottontail the tail and feet remained and, when dyed, they provided important clues to the identity of the individual. However, the color of the feet is not ordinarily discernible in the field while the rabbit is alive. ”

“ A cottontail has shorter ears and shorter hind legs. It allows the enemy to approach more closely than the jack rabbit does before running, and then, although relying in some measure on its running ability for escape, flees to a burrow or thicket for safety from its pursuer. The brush rabbit with ears and hind legs shorter than those of the cottontail seldom if ever ventures farther than 45 feet away from the edge of dense cover. After an enemy is near, the brush rabbit has merely to scamper back into the brush. ”

“ As soon as he finds a foe near, no matter what he is doing, a well-trained Cottontail keeps just as he is and stops all movement, for the creatures of the woods are of the same color as the things in the woods and catch the eye only while moving. ”

“ Mearns Cottontail.—The cottontail was formerly common only in the southern part of Michigan, but it now occurs over all the cultivated area of the Lower Peninsula. It has increased with and followed the civilization that furnished an abundance of food and destroyed many of its enemies.
I have several times found nests in meadows and cultivated fields. The nest is built in a deep form and is lined with fur from the mother's body and fine grass. The young are completely hidden when left by the mother. April 16, 1920, I found a nest containing five young in a stubblefield at Portage Lake. ”

“ A trail recorded for an individual on one night was almost identical with another trail for the same individual recorded another night. The cottontail is not easily driven out of its home range. Paths or runways are used by cottontails escaping from predators in dense vegetation along fence lines, in thickets, or brush piles, or in snow that is eight or more inches deep. ”

“ In heavy rain a cottontail may move along, neither hopping nor running, with its body close to the ground, head low, ears laid back. Losing its customary alertness it may pass a person without seeing him. ”

“ In habitat of alternating woodland and grassland, such as that on the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation, two centers of activity often developed in the home range of a cottontail, at opposite edges of a tract of woodland. The individual concentrated its movements near one center for three to five days then moved to the other center. Pursuit by a predator, random movement, or other cause may be responsible for shift from one edge to another. ”

“ The cottontail usually settles down in one area and stays there until it dies. Changes from one home range to another are unusual, but minor shifts, in response to changes in vegetation and weather, are common. In one exceptional instance (Figure 2, right) a male cottontail, occupying a home range of 11.2 acres in a woodland, suddenly shifted to a new area that barely overlapped its former home range at one edge. Two months after the change was first noticed the cottontail was living in a new home range of 6.6 acres 300 feet from its original home range. ”

“ Eighty-nine cottontails were identified in the field 59 times, trailed 70 times and captured in live-traps 326 times in 7,850 trap nights. Home range of the cottontail was calculated by five methods, using the same set of data, and the results were compared. A composite method was used, which permitted the use of more data than any other one method.
The maintenance of a home range is of survival value to the cottontail. Knowledge of the home range is of value to man when control or propagation of cottontail populations is desired. ”

“ Its numerous enemies, especially the coyotes, foxes, bobcats, hawks and owls keep the cottontail constantly on the alert and seldom far from dense thickets or sheltering rocks. Its short legs are not a match for the speedy coyote and so artful dodging and hiding tactics must be resorted to.
The mother cottontail makes a nest, lined with her own fur, in a sheltered place where the young, born blind, naked and helpless, are placed. They grow rapidly and are soon able to run about and play, then it isn’t long until they are out on their own. There are usually several litters born each year ”

“ Despite his own sufferings, Al had one satisfaction, which was that Cottontail kept up much better than most of the horses of the expedition. The fact that he was a tough, sturdy little animal by nature had something to do with his good condition; yet Al knew that the care he had given the horse throughout the campaign had been chiefly responsible for bringing him into the present crisis in a state to withstand its hardships; for he had never failed to supply Cottontail with water and [Pg 308] grass whenever opportunity offered, even at the cost of his own rest or comfort. ”

“ Movements made by the cottontail while foraging appear aimless; typical behavior consists of progression with a hesitant gait of two or three hops, a stop to eat, another series of hops and another stop. ”

“ She was not brought up in the briers for nothing. Dogs and foxes, cattle and sheep, and even man himself might be torn by those fearful spikes: but Molly understands it and lives and thrives under it. And the further it spreads the more safe country there is for the Cottontail. And the name of this new and dreaded bramble is—the barbed-wire fence. ”

“ Despite heavy predation by many natural enemies, the cottontail manages to maintain itself because of its high birth rate. One mother may produce a total of 25 young in the 4 or 5 litters born during the year. ”

“ So the Cottontails hopped to the south side of the pond and, choosing a brush-pile, they crept under and snuggled down for the night, facing the wind but with their noses in different directions so as to go out different ways in case of alarm. The wind blew harder and colder as the hours went by, and about midnight a fine icy snow came ticking down on the dead leaves and hissing through the brush-heap. It might seem a poor night for hunting, but that old fox from Springfield was out. ”

“ When a Cottontail or a Wood-hare runs, his tail is curled up tight on his back, and does not touch the snow. When a Jack runs, his tail hangs downward or backward, with the tip curved or straight, according to the individual; in some, it points straight down, and so, often leaves a little stroke behind the foot-marks. The Warhorse's tail of shining black, was of unusual length, and at every bound, it left in the snow, a long stroke, so long that that alone was almost enough to tell which Rabbit had made the track. ”

“ All of these animals hindered operations by stealing bait and springing traps. Corn, scratch-feed, carrots, parsnips, tomatoes, lettuce, apple, cabbage, raisins, sorghum, sugar candy, and onions were used as bait. Corn and scratch-feed attracted cottontails best in all seasons. Corn was superior to scratch-feed, which was quickly stolen by small birds and rodents. Eighty-nine cottontails (40 females, 49 males) were captured in the course of the study.
Cottontails were marked individually at the time of first capture. ”

“ The home range is used most intensively near centers of activity that are near woodland edges or in other areas of good cover. Cottontails often ranged through the woods and along edges but did not cross open areas more than 75 feet wide. Cottontails use their home range most intensively in winter when they are forced to move long distances in poor cover, searching for food. ”

“ Another cottontail (Figure 3, top part) lived in a woodland home range of 7.9 acres in winter but in summer increased the home range to 9.5 acres by including also a part of an adjacent field. Other cottontails increased their home ranges in summer by five to 15 per cent.
On the average, male cottontails had a larger (by 13 per cent) home range than females probably because of the increased activity of males in the breeding season and the decreased activity of females when pregnant and caring for young. Nevertheless, some of the largest home ranges measured were those of females. ”

“ It is true that most Rabbits burrow in the ground, their burrows having many devious ramifications, but the Cottontail usually makes his home in a little dug-out, concealed under a bush or a tuft of grass. ”

“ Everywhere in their territory, as the shades of night approach, the cottontails come forth from their hiding places and skip merrily about in open ground on the borders of thickets and similar shelter, where they search for the tender green vegetation on which they love to feed. After it becomes too dark to distinguish their forms, the white tail may be seen twinkling about in the dusk. ”

“ These organized hunts are popular in the West, where they are also varied, in the case of jack rabbits, by what is known as the "rabbit drive." A large territory is surrounded by men and the animals are driven into a corral built of wire netting. While a few cottontails are sometimes included in the catch, these usually find refuge in open burrows or under cover of rocks or brush, so that this method is hardly applicable to them. ”

“ The population reaches its peak in August or September; home ranges varying in size from one-half acre (in young ranging in size from 150 grams to 800 grams) to 12 acres, in adults, are superimposed upon each other. In a woodland area of approximately 21 acres 33 cottontails were living together in September, 1955.
As the growing season ends and winter approaches, the amount of food available to the cottontail decreases and the cover becomes sparser (Pls. 45 and 46) ; predators, disease, and weather take their toll of the young. ”

“ Live-traps were operated intermittently at 130 stations between December 8, 1954, and February 10, 1956. Sixteen cottontails were marked in the same area by Robert L. Packard in 1954. Data from 7850 trap nights were used in this study. The traps were set at fifty-foot intervals and the pattern approximated that of a grid in habitat favorable for cottontails such as at edges of woodland. In wooded areas traps were placed at fifty-foot intervals parallel to the edges. Traps were not set on areas of poor habitat where neither cottontails nor their sign were observed. ”

“ I was camped with a lot of Sioux Indians on the banks of the Cheyenne River in Dakota. They had their families with them, and about sundown one of the boys ran into the tepee for a gun, and then fired into the grass. His little brother gave a war-whoop that their "pa" might well have been proud of, then rushed forward and held up a fat [Pg 153] Cottontail, kicking her last kick. Another, a smaller Cottontail, was found not far away, and half a dozen young redskins armed with sticks crawled up, then suddenly let them fly. Bunny was hit, knocked over, and before he could recover, a dog had him. ”

“ Quietest of all Northern woods creatures, the otter slides from one ice-hung waterfall to the next. The solitary scamperer left is the cottontail, appealing because he is the most pursued and politest of the furry ”

“ He learned to catch birds and mice and frogs and squirrels, and even the keen-eared cottontail rabbit, whose eyes can see forward and backward equally well. He learned, too, the lessons of prudence and foresight which keep foxes alive when ice and snow have locked many of their larders. Once, when he was crossing a pasture with Father Fox, the latter stopped and stood like a pointing dog, one velvety black bent forefoot in the air, while with outstretched muzzle he sniffed the faintest of warm scents, which seemed to float from a clump of tangled dry grass. ”

“ The cottontail of the Rockies is the commonest and easiest source of meat, not only to the camper, but to the rabbit's cannibalistic neighbors. He is a sort of universal food—a sort of staff of life to the animal world. But for him famine would stalk the big killers. Fortunately for himself and for his preying foes, he is most prolific, and holds his own, in numbers at least, despite man and beast. Occasionally some ravaging disease carries his kind off by the thousands, then starvation faces those dependent on him for food. ”

“ Shooting is undoubtedly the best method for hunting this animal. Ferreting is often impracticable, since our native rabbits do not habitually burrow; besides, the use of ferrets is forbidden by law in many States that protect the rabbit. Coursing with greyhounds is popular in the West, where the swifter jack rabbits are abundant. Cottontails are often chased with foxhounds, but the beagle is rapidly taking precedence as a favorite for hunting these animals, the gun being used to secure the game. ”

“ Also, expenditure of $100.00 on improving the habitat for Sylvilagus in a given area in the eastern United States would produce more cottontails than the expenditure of the same sum for live animals, from the Middlewest, that are to be released (see Langenbach and Beule, 1942:14, 15 and 30) .
Different species venture different distances from cover to feed. The Audubon cottontail of west-central California ventures a hundred feet and more from cover but the brush rabbit was never seen [Pg 139] (Orr, 1940:182) farther than 42 feet from cover. ”

“ Yō' tail is shō a pretty white;
You takes it fer 'way out'n sight.
"Molly! Molly! Molly Bright!"
Ole Molly Cottontail,
You sets up on a rotten rail!
You tears through de graveyard!
You makes dem ugly [3] hants wail.
Ole Molly Cottontail,
Won't you be shore not to fail
[4] To give me yō' right hīn' foot?
My luck, it won't be fer sale.
[2] Leg bail = to run away.
[3] Hants = ghosts or spirits.
[4] This embraces the old superstition that carrying in one's pocket the right hind foot of a rabbit, which has habitually lived about a cemetery, brings good luck to its possessor. ”