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.

[8][9] The two species look nearly identical, and can only be reliably distinguished by genetic testing of tissue, through fecal samples (i.e., of rabbit pellets), or by an examination of the rabbits' skulls, which shows a key morphological distinction: the frontonasal skull sutures of eastern cottontail are smooth lines, while the New England cottontails' are jagged or interdigitated.

[11] The New England cottontail weighs between 995 and 1,347 grams (2.194 and 2.970 lb) and is between 398 and 439 millimetres (15.7 and 17.3 in) long, with dark brown coats with a "penciled effect" and tails with white undersides.

Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) explains that: According to at least one study, the cottontails' historic range also included a small part of southern Quebec, from which it is extirpated.

[12] Before European settlement, New England cottontails were likely found along river valleys, where disturbances in the forest—such as beaver activity, ice storms, hurricanes, and wildfires—promoted thicket growth.

[2] It thrives in early successional forests—young forests (usually less than twenty-five years old) with a dense understory of thick, tangled vegetation (scrubland/brushland), preferably of blueberry or mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia).

[2][8][12] Studies indicate that these forests matured into closed-canopy stands and the shrub layer began to thin in the 1960s, the New England cottontail habit declined.

Because New England cottontail habitat is small and has less vegetative cover, they must forage more often in the open, leaving them vulnerable.

[8] The breeding season varies based on local elevation and latitude, and can span from January to September.

[8] During the mating season, "male New England cottontails form breeding groups around dominant females in areas of the habitat with plentiful food and good cover.

[8] New England cottontails are herbivores whose diet varies based on the season and local forage opportunities.

In the spring and summer, the New England cottontails primarily eats herbaceous plants (including leaves, stems, wood, bark, flowers, fruits, and seeds) from grasses and forbs.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is surveying suitable habitat for this species.

Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Connecticut are primary areas that may hold populations of the species.

In 2013, the State of Connecticut embarked on a habitat restoration project in Litchfield County, clearing 57 acres of mature woods to create a meadowland and second-growth forest needed by the rabbit.