Brush rabbits use simple "forms" in the brush for resting. Only one observer (Orr, 1940: 173) has reported an individual entering a hole. In patches of chaparral in which the rabbits live they make runways that are especially well defined at the edges of the brush. The outer entrance to a runway is tunnellike and one to two feet from the outer entrance there is a special form that serves as a lookout post. A brush rabbit that is about to venture into the open ordinarily pauses in such a form for several minutes, presumably to satisfy itself that no enemy is in the open area whither the rabbit is bound.
The breeding season is from January to June, at least in California. There are 2 to 5 young, averaging 3.5 per litter. They are born in a nest.
Sylvilagus bachmani bachmani (Waterhouse).
1839. Lepus bachmani Waterhouse, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, Pt. 6 (for 1838):103, February 7, type from California, probably between Monterey and Santa Barbara.
1904. Sylvilagus (microlagus) bachmani, Lyon, Smiths. Misc. Coll., 45:336, June 15.
1855. Lepus trowbridgei Baird, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 333, type from Monterey County, California.
Marginal records.—California (Orr, 1940:150): 2 mi. S mouth Salinas River; near Morro.
Sylvilagus bachmani cerrosensis (J. A. Allen).
1898. Lepus cerrosensis J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 10:145, April 12, type from Cerros [=Cedros] Island, Baja California. Known from type locality only.
1909. Sylvilagus bachmani cerrosensis, Nelson, N. Amer. Fauna, 29:255, August 31.