New England cottontail

The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis), also known as the gray rabbit, brush rabbit, wood hare, wood rabbit, or cooney, is a species of cottontail rabbit that appears in fragmented populations across New England and the state of New York, specifically from southern Maine to southern New York. This species bears a close resemblance to the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), which has been introduced in much of the New England cottontail home range. The eastern cottontail is now more common in it.

In 2006, it was estimated that the current area of occupancy in its historic range is 12,180 km² (4,700 sq mi) - some 86% less than the occupied range in 1960. Because of this decrease in this species' numbers and habitat, the New England cottontail is a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Cottontail hunting has been restricted in some areas where the eastern and New England cottontail species coexist in order to protect the remaining New England cottontail population.

Rabbits require habitat patches of at least 12 acres to maintain a stable population. In New Hampshire, the number of identified patches dropped from 20 to 8 in the early 2000s. The ideal habitat is 25 acres of continuous early successional habitat within a larger landscape that provides shrub wetlands and dense thickets. Federal funding has been used for habitat restoration work on state lands, including the planting of shrubs and other growth critical to the rabbit's habitat. Funding has also been made available to private landowners who are willing to create thicket-type brush habitat which doesn't have much economic value.