Marsh Rabbit Diet 
151 
spike grass (x 2 = 6.00, 2df, P < 0.05) and reed (x 2 = 6.91, 2df, P 
< 0.05). Marsh rabbits primarily consumed upland vegetation during 
summer and winter, with significantly higher consumption of beach 
pea (x 2 = 10.00, 2df, P < 0.01) in summer and camphorweed (x 2 
= 6.01, 2df, P < 0.05) in winter than in other seasons. Rabbits 
consumed nearly equal amounts of grasses and forbs in spring, but 
their dependence on forbs increased to more than double the con- 
sumption of grasses during summer and winter. Shrubs did not con- 
tribute a major portion of the diets, even in winter. Thirty-eight 
other species of plants were found along the transects but were not 
consumed by the marsh rabbits we collected (Appendix A). 
DISCUSSION 
Tomkins (1935) noted that marsh rabbits in coastal Georgia 
fed in dunes and upland areas adjacent to wet marshes on dredge- 
material islands, but he did not identify the plants upon which 
these rabbits were feeding. Our study, despite relatively small sample 
sizes, indicates that marsh rabbits forage extensively in upland com- 
munities on estuarine islands in southeastern North Carolina, and 
that they eat a wide variety of plant species available to them. 
Blair (1936) offered captive marsh rabbits plants common to Florida 
swamp habitats where he collected the rabbits. Some plant species 
(or related species) eaten by Blair’s rabbits were also found in the 
island communities of our study and were eaten in southeastern 
North Carolina as well. These plants included greenbriars (Smilax), 
pennyworts (. Hydrocotyle ), hollies {Ilex), silverling ( Baccharis ), and 
rushes ( Juncus ). Blair (1936) noted that marsh pennywort was rel- 
ished by captive rabbits. In our study, consumption of marsh pen- 
nywort averaged 7% in spring, 2% in summer, and 11% in winter. 
In southeastern North Carolina marsh rabbits rely on saltmeadow 
cordgrass, pennywort, and seaside goldenrod throughout the year; 
other species of plants are consumed seasonally, especially beach 
pea in summer and camphorweed in winter. MacCracken and Hansen 
(1984) noted that Nuttall’s cottontails (5. nuttalli) also tended to 
utilize many of the same species year-round with seasonal shifts in 
the importance of species. Holloran et al. (1981) found that eastern 
cottontails ( S . floridanus) in Virginia consumed more forbs in sum- 
mer and fall than in winter and spring, with grasses forming the 
bulk of the diet in winter and spring. Other cottontail species have 
been shown to display seasonal shifts in reliance on forbs, grasses, 
and shrubs mostly in response to availability and environmental con- 
ditions (Dalke and Sime 1941, Turkowski 1975, Green and Flinders 
