Bangs.] 412 f-l^^^- ">■ 
may account fur their dift'orence in coloration. X. sijlvaticus 
lives in the open fields and broom-grass stretches, in the rank 
grow'th of weeds along the " creeks, " and in the open southern 
woods, seldom if ever living in the denser parts of woods or 
swamps. So noticeable is this that in North Carolina, where this 
rabbit and the swamp rabbit {Lepus palustris) occur together, 
the latter is called " Avood rabbit " to distinguish it from the cotton- 
tail of the fields. L. sylvaticus trans itionalis, on the other hand, 
is seldom found in the open fields, but prefers the seclusion of 
the thickest swamps, gi-een brier patches, scrub oaks, and old 
overgrown pastures that have come up to sumacs, alders, roses, 
and various shrubs. 
Mr. Wm. Brewster once told me that he was so impressed 
with the difference in the habits of these two cotton-tails, that 
when he came home from the south he looked the matter up and 
found to his astonishment that they were regarded as one species. 
The cotton-tail is continually pushing its way farther to the 
north and replacing the northern hare. 
The two species are seldom found together, and as the hare 
{Leims americaniis virginianus) disappears the cotton-tail comes 
in.i 
In the autumn of 1898 I spent a few weeks collecting in 
Hillsboro Co., New Hampshire, and was surprised to find the 
cotton-tail abundant. I mentioned this to an old hunter and 
trapper, and he told me that fifteen years before the cotton-tail 
was unknown in that part of New Hampshire, but that since then 
it had year by year become more common, and the hare {Lepiis 
americanus virginianus) had decreased in about the same 
proportion. 
Mr. A. C. Brooks of Mount Poorest, Ontario, ^vrot^i me a short 
time ago, in answer to an inquiry, that a few years ago the 
' Dr. Bacliman noticed this change taking place at Troy, N. Y., and refers to it on 
page 328, vol. 7, of the Journal of the academy of natural sciences of Philadelphia, 
1837, as follows : — 
" About 30 years ago it [the cotton-tail] was not kno^vn in the neighborhood of 
Troy, in the State of New York. The Northern hare was then very abundant. The 
American hare [the cotton-tail] soon after made its appearance in very small 
numbers, and, in proportion to its increase, the former began to grow more scarce. 
For a time they continued to be found in the same neighborhood ; but whether the 
two species were not reconciled to each other, or what is more probal)le, that the 
Northern hare was more hunted than the other, it has now become comparatively 
scarce, while the ^Vmerican hare [the cotton-tail] is exceedingly numerous." This 
cotton-tail is undoubtedly Lepvs sylvaticus transitionalis. 
