SACRAMENTO COTTONTAIL. Sylvilagus audubonii audubonii (Baird)

WASHINGTON COTTONTAIL. Sylvilagus nuttallii nuttallii (Bachman)¹⁷

Field characters.—Size smaller than in either common domestic rabbit or jack rabbit; tail cottony white on whole under surface; ears moderate, about length of head (fig. 35b). Head and body 12-1/4 to 13-3/4 inches (310-348 mm.), tail about 2 inches (40-55 mm.), hind foot 3-1/4 to 3-3/4 inches (81-94 mm.), ear (from crown of bead) 2-2/3 to 3-1/2 inches (68-90 mm.); weight about 2 pounds or slightly over (1 kilogram). [Measurements from audubonii.] Coloration above yellowish brown with moderate amount of blackish overwash; whole under surface of body, tops of hind feet, and under side of tail, pure white. Droppings: Flattened spheres about 1/4 inch in diameter; scattered on ground where the rabbits feed.

Occurrence.—Common resident in Lower Sonoran and part of Upper Sonoran Zone on west side of Yosemite region. Recorded at Snelling, Lagrange, and Pleasant Valley (S. audubonii); also east of Sierra Nevada in neighborhood of Mono Lake (S. nuttallii). See footnote for details. Inhabits brushy situations interspersed with clearings. Active in morning and late afternoon.

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¹⁷Two distinct species of Cottontail Rabbit are found at the opposite ends of the Yosemite section. Their habits are not known to differ to any great extent save perhaps in adaptation to the different types of country in which they live. Because of the lack of knowledge as to many of the details of their life histories, they are here considered together.

SACRAMENTO COTTONTAIL, Sylvilagus audubonii audubonii (Baird). The species which inhabits north-central California, and reaches its southern limit in the vicinity of the Yosemite section. It is common near Snelling and Lagrange, and a few were noted in the hills near Pleasant Valley.

WASHINGTON COTTONTAIL, Sylvilagus nuttallii nuttallii (Bachmnan). A Great Basin species. Occurs at localities on the east side of the Sierra Nevada in the neighborhood of Mono Lake (noted by us on Rush Creek, on Williams Butte, and near Mono Lake Post Office). It may be distinguished from the west-side species by grayer tone of coloration, especially on sides of body, and greater amount of rufous on back.

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Cottontail rabbits are present along the western and eastern bases of the Sierra Nevada, but they do not invade the adjacent hill country to any extent. On the west slope, the range of the cottontail is nearly complementary to that of the brush rabbit, though the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Cottontails are much different in their habits from jack rabbits (which are hares, and not true rabbits), and so these two types can and do occur in the same general localities without competing seriously with one another.

The cottontail is nearly twice the weight of a brush rabbit but only about one-third that of a jack rabbit. In general, it resembles the former, possessing rather short legs and feet, and ears of moderate length (fig. 35b). The cottony white of the tail, which has given rise to the common name, is much more conspicuous in this species than in the brush rabbit. The cottontail is essentially an inhabitant of thickets, although it does not require such dense cover as does the brush rabbit and it forages farther out into the open than does that species. The growths which line the banks of the Merced and Tuolumne rivers on their courses through the San Joaquin Valley afford ideal conditions for cottontails; there they are numerous. But cottontails do not always live about shrubbery. On some of the open hillsides between Lagrange and Merced Falls, cottontails occur in numbers, their only shelter being burrows in the ground, presumably those deserted by ground squirrels and remodelled by the rabbits.

Cottontails are abroad chiefly in the early morning and late afternoon hours; the duration of these daily periods of activity is somewhat longer than that of the brush rabbits. At Snelling, in May, they were seen abroad between 6 and 8 A.M. and were probably out much earlier in the morning. Near Hayward (on the road to Coulterville) a cottontail was seen to cross the road about 9 A.M. one day in early May. In the afternoon, during the summer months, these animals may be abroad as early as 4 o'clock, in places shaded from direct sunshine, but at that season more are apt to be seen toward dusk of evening. In favorable places two or three, and on occasion even more, of the animals forage in close proximity to one another.

The cottontail seems to prefer thickets interspersed with small clearings or grassy glades in which it may feed. In one case three individuals were noted in an alfalfa patch in the river bottomland at Snelling. They were about 25 feet out from thickets of willows and blackberries, and each individual, though feeding, was actively alert and ready to dash back to cover at the first intimation of danger.

Like all of the rabbit tribe the cottontail is speedy when running, though for safety it depends on seeking shelter quickly rather than on outdistancing its enemy. Rarely is there a chance to judge even roughly of the speed at which a cottontail can run. Once, on December 20, 1914, one was seen as it ran for a short distance parallel to the railroad train near Merced Falls. The speed of the train was estimated to be 20 miles an hour and the rabbit appeared to be going about three-fourths as fast or about 15 miles an hour.

Concerning the breeding of the cottontail, little of a definite character is known. On May 24, 1915, a half-grown individual (S. audubonii) was captured at Pleasant Valley. This would point to breeding early in the year. A young Washington Cottontail was seen near Mono Lake Post Office on June 30, 1916.