

Multiflora rose fence with adjacent unmowed strip of vegetation is used as living space for rabbits, quail, and 



song birds on Patuxent Conservation Farm. 



The}' used tliis conibiiuition :U the sides of fields 

 at harvest time. They arranged for annual har- 

 vests of small game on the three farm areas. 

 Many of the rabbits shot were ones tagged in 

 the summer studies. Their abundance and loca- 

 tions in the fall sliowed that the liedgerows and 

 field borders on the conservation farm provided 

 cover wliich kept tliem on the farm into the hunt- 

 ing .season. On the control farm, the rabl>its had 

 to move after the harvest, to seek protective cover; 

 consequently, fewer were available for lumting. 

 Each spring for several years the biologists 

 counted the number of nesting l)irds by following 

 measured routes on each farm and ina])})ing the 

 locations of singing male birds. Tiiese counts 

 showed clearly that small song birds, too, are 

 favored by conservation fanning. As a supple- 



ment to the conser\-ation farm, parts of the liead- 

 quartere area were set aside to field-test promis- 

 ing methods for increasing wildlife on farmland. 

 Here biologists are trying to increase the numbers 

 of animals by managing the native plants in 

 simple, inexpensive ways. Field borders are 

 managed to encourage growth of seed-i)roducing 

 annuals, and odd corners are allowed to grow up 

 naturally with a minimum of help, to ensure that 

 the plants tluit grow are the ones that will pro- 

 vide food and cover for wildlife. 



At the Centers substation at (ladsden, Ala., 

 one of the farm-wildlife biologists counted the 

 quail on farms managed in difi'erent ways. Those 

 operated under Soil Conservation Service plans 

 had notably larger [Kipulations of (piail and con- 

 sistently better hunting. 



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