The American mammals to which the term “rabbit” may be properly applied include not only the cottontails, but numerous other species closely similar in form and general appearance, but lacking the cottony white tail. As a group, these rabbits have a far greater distribution in America than the hares. They range from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific and from the southern border of Canada south through Central and South America to Argentina. Their vertical distribution extends from sea level to above timberline, attaining an altitude of more than 14,000 feet on Mount Orizaba, Mexico. In the United States cottontails are so numerous and generally distributed that they are well known to nearly every one. They inhabit all kinds of country, from the deciduous forests of the Eastern States to the grassy or brush-grown plains and pine-clad mountain slopes of the West and the sun-scorched deserts of the Southwest. As a result of this extended distribution and the variety of conditions in the areas occupied, these rabbits include numerous species and geographic races, which in some instances differ greatly in appearance. Cottontails are especially common about the brushy borders of cultivated lands throughout the country, and in fertile brush-grown areas of foothills, valleys, and river bottoms of the West. They are mainly nocturnal, and in areas where there is an abundance of natural cover in the way of brushy thickets and dense grass commonly make concealed “forms” in which they lie safely hidden. In areas where shelter is represented by scattered bushes and a comparatively thin growth of other vegetation they generally occupy burrows in the ground. These may be holes deserted by badgers or prairie-dogs or dug by themselves under a rock or other object. Hollow logs or natural cavities and crevices among the rocks are also frequented. When pursued by dogs, hares as a rule rely solely on their speed for safety, while the cottontails take refuge in the first hole they can reach. 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. During the night they are often revealed in country roads by the head lights of automobiles. Several litters of from two to six young usually appear during the spring and summer. These are born blind and practically naked, their unclad helplessness strongly contrasting with the open-eyed, fully furred, and alert young of the hares at the same age. This is a conclusive indication of the close relationship between cottontails and European rabbits, the young of the latter being similarly, but even more, undeveloped at birth.