In the warmer parts of their range, Eastern Cottontails can breed from the months of February through September.  A female (doe) can have three or four litters per year.  There are usually four or five babies in a litter.  The female rabbit is entirely responsible for her young. The doe makes a shallow nest which she lines with grasses, twigs and fur that she pulls from her own coat.  She only visits her nest at dusk and dawn.  Her milk is very rich and nourishing and sustains her young for many hours.  When she visits the nest, she stands over her young and they reach up to nurse from her.

The newborn rabbits are naked, with their eyes closed.  Soon they begin to grow fur and their eyes open.  By the time they are five weeks old, they are already leaving their nest and exploring their surroundings.  At this time, their mother teaches them what to eat and they learn something about their environment.  At first, they will return to their nest after short excursions, but eventually they will leave the nest entirely.  Mother rabbit continues to feed them until they all disperse.  They are independent of their mothers very quickly, compared to most mammals.

Rabbits leave signs of their presence.  They include prints and scat (droppings).  Rabbit scat changes depending on what the animals have been eating.   Usually, they are dark pellets the size of peas and they are sometimes found in piles.

All animals leave "signs" of their presence.  Some of the signs you might see if there's an Eastern Cottontail rabbit in the vicinity are:

	Small, woody sprigs cut off cleanly and at an angle
	Young trees stripped of bark to a height of 3 - 4 feet when snow is deep.
	Dark brown spherical pieces of scat (feces).  The pellets are the size of peas, and are sometimes found in piles.
	Tracks are in clusters of four.  The fore prints are almost round and about one inch wide.  The longer hind prints are oblong and about three to four inches, depending on the size of the rabbit and the speed that it's moving.  If the rabbit was sitting or standing, you would see two fore prints side-by-side just ahead of two more widely-spaced hind prints.  If the rabbit was moving, you would see one fore print slightly ahead of the other and the hind prints ahead of the fore prints.  This is because the forefeet are used as "fulcrums" for the hops.  The hind prints seem short when the rabbit was moving quickly because less of the leg touched down.  The straddle can be four to five inches, and the stride is variable with speed.

Front Track:

Rear Track: