Trapping wildlife, alive and unharmed, for in-hand study 

 is commonplace in Bureau programs, both direct and 

 cooperative. A snowshoe hare just removed from livetrap 

 hy Alaska Unit graduate student (top), and a trap being 

 set for pine squirrel by Bureau biologist. (Photos by 

 David R. Klein, top; Denver Wildlife Research Center, 

 bottom) 



vehicles are used more frequently than dog teams 

 to maintain traplines. Pelt studies indicate that 

 young foxes reach primeness later than adults; a 

 large early season catch of juveniles can therefore 

 have a pronounced effect on the value of the an- 

 nual harvest. 



F.fft et of slope on browse production.— In a tim- 

 berstand improvement study on the Pisgah Na- 

 tional Forest in North Carolina, in cooperation 

 with the U.S. Forest Service, clearings on lower 

 slopes produced 10 times more available deer 

 browse than those on upper slopes. Cleared areas 

 on lower slopes produced 801 pounds of browse 

 per acre, as compared with 5 pounds on uncut 

 areas. The most important browse species were 

 red oak, black gum, smilax, dogwood, red maple, 

 black locust, sourwood, Vaccinium sp., sassafras, 

 and white oak. Track-count plots indicated that 

 clearings were used more than check areas during 

 the first growing season and during critical 

 periods. 



Productivity of bobwhite quail in Alabama. — 

 This 10-year study, designed to evaluate the an- 

 nual production of quail as related to weather or 

 other factors, was completed in 1963. Wings were 

 solicited from hunter cooperators, who contributed 

 81,749 during the period. The percentage of 

 juvenile quail in the bag, and the fraction of the 

 total hatch before July 1 of each year, were ascer- 

 tained from these materials. It was clearly de- 

 monstrated that the peak hatch for each year was 

 correlated with the wettest part of the season. 

 Dry periods early in the season resulted in the 

 hatching of an above average number of young 

 after July 1, and years of above-average rainfall 

 resulted in an above-average percentage of young 

 quail in the kill, the Alabama Unit reported. 



Fertilization improves quail habitat. — Fertiliza- 

 tion experiments in conjunction with burning 

 were continued on both the burned and unburned 

 tracts studied by the Alabama Unit. Intercepts 

 measured in September indicated the following 

 coverage, in percent, by quail food plants: burned 

 and fertilized area, 23.82: burned area. 13.38; fer- 

 tilized area, 2.64; check area, 1.42. These results 

 are considered significant and of definite manage- 

 ment interest. 



Habitat components of the bobwhite quail. — 

 This project, completed in 1963 by the Oklahoma 

 Unit, showed that from late May until autumn the 

 principal foods of quail were mass seeds. Of 

 particular importance were Johnsongrass, fringe- 

 leaf paspalum, panic grasses, and wheat ; insects 



36 



