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Species authority page

New England cottontail

Sylvilagus transitionalis · Hares and rabbits · Small game

New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis): Grayish-brown rabbit nearly identical to the eastern cottontail. Shorter ears, a black spot between the ears and a black line on the front edge of the ears. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Sylvilagus transitionalis
Family
Leporidae
Range
Native only to New England and eastern New York; in New York now confined to Columbia, Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester counties east of the Hudson. Not in Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Grayish-brown rabbit nearly identical to the eastern cottontail. [1][2]

Shorter ears, a black spot between the ears and a black line on the front edge of the ears. [1][2]

Lacks the white forehead spot shown by many eastern cottontails. [1][2]

Field marks are unreliable; certain identification needs skull examination or DNA (e.g., from fecal pellets). [1][2]

Compared with the eastern cottontail: Eastern cottontails often show a white forehead spot and have longer ears without a black front edge, but only DNA or skulls are certain. [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Do not identify New England cottontail from colour alone. Compare structure, size, range and the listed similar species before making a field decision.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Early-successional thickets, shrubby areas and shrub wetlands with some canopy cover and native shrubs. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Hides in dense cover by day; most active at dawn and dusk. [1][2]

Summer diet of grasses and herbaceous plants; autumn and winter diet of bark, twigs and buds of blackberry, raspberry, blueberry and willow. [1][2]

Home ranges from half an acre to eight acres; males range more widely. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Take status not established

North Ground has not established meaningful legal take of this species. That is a gap in the evidence, not a finding that it is protected or that it is open.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Native only to New England and eastern New York; in New York now confined to Columbia, Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester counties east of the Hudson. Not in Canada.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation · reviewed 2026-09-30

    New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

  2. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service · reviewed 2026-09-30

    U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service