cottontails did not. Swamp rabbits sliowcd male 

 chinning (territorial marking) ; cottontails did 

 not. The swamp rabbit uttered many social vocal- 

 izations. The cottontail exhibited fewer vtx'aliza- 

 tions, and they were not connected with social 

 interactions. 



Infiience of hunting on rabbit ■population-'^. — 

 The objective of this investigation by the Virginia 

 Unit, on Hog Island State Waterfowl Refuge, was 

 to determine whether cottontails could be over- 

 harvested on intensively cultivated land by hunt- 

 ing. Hog Island is representative of much of the 

 land-use pattern of southeastern Virginia. 



Twelve study plots of 5 to 10 acres each were 

 established near field edges, and rabbit population 

 estimates were made by live trap])ing. Three 

 treatments of cottontail removal were randomlv 



assigned to the plots: no removal, 50 percent re- 

 moval, and 75 i^erccnt removal, each replicated 

 four times. Rabbits were taken both by hunting 

 and by trapping. 



Despite heavy removal after the 1962 estimates 

 were made, 1963 populations in almost all cases 

 were substantially higher than in 1962. These 

 results suggest that cottontails can withstand a 

 reduction of at least 75 percent of their fall popu- 

 lation and still provide breeding stock capable of 

 producing a comparable harvest the following 

 year. The results further suggest that a hunting- 

 pressure reduction of the fall pojnilation by 75 

 percent is i)robably impossible to achieve in cover 

 of the density encoimtered. 



Beacer management in Alaska. — The beaver is 

 primarih' important as a modifier of environment, 



One of the most characteristic of American big-game species, an inhabitant of high plains from the Dakotas-Oklahoma 

 westward, is the pronghorn antelojie. Several Wildlife Research Units and various Western States have studied 

 pronghorn ecology, protluetivit.v, and management since about 193.5. The species has made a dramatic comeback 

 during the last 25 or 30 years. ( Photo by E. P. Haddon ) 





