MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Vol. 1, No. 1 
Page 2 
Daylight roadside and nighttime spotlight censuses were made on the 
Sibley area. The number of rabbits observed in the roadside census increased to 
0.32 per mile from 0.01 in December largely as a result of snow cover which in¬ 
creased visability and caused the rabbits to move to the vicinity of farm buildings 
The number of rabbits observed by sootlight census was down to 1.27 rabbits per 
mile from 1.66 for last month, possibly a reflection of winter mortality. The 
spotlight census is regarded as a more reliable method than the roadside census 
during most seasons and conditions. 
Ten of thirteen cottontail embryos were received from a hunter who shot 
the female on January 17. The size of the embryos indicated that copulation had 
taken place about January 2 and that birth would have occurred about February 1. 
Thirty-four cottontails were collected during the last week in January to determine 
their reproductive condition. Three of the 20 males were reproductively active, 
but none of II 4 females showed even preliminary preparation of the uterus for repro¬ 
duction. 
W-52-R-3'* P. Vohs, R. Conder 
A series of observations concerning activities of bob-white quail, 
mourning doves, cottontail rabbits, and small mammals in wide-row and control plots 
was continued throughout the month. The frequent precipitation, which broke all 
previous annual records in 195 13 has continued through January. Experiments with 
the dropping board method of determining populations of small mammals has been un¬ 
productive because of the abundance of rain. 
The production of corn in the wide-row plots compared favorably with the 
control field yields during the 1957 growing season. Wide-row yields ranged from 
9b to 112 per cent of the control field area production. Interseedings in the wide 
row areas were an asset to the harvesting operations during the wet fall and early 
winter. While muddy fields of conventional com defied harvesters, the footing 
provided by the interseeding allowed picking operations to be carried out in the 
wide-row fields. Cottontail rabbit utilization of the wide-rows exceeded by many 
times the use made of the control areas. Similar results are being recorded for 
bob-white quail and mourning doves. 
W-55-R-2 F. Bellrose 
As part of the winter inventory of waterfowl, as made by the Fish and 
Wildlife Service, we flew the Illinois and Mississippi valleys on January 13* 15 
and 18. We found a large decrease in the numbers of ducks as compared with the 
previous year. The total for the state was Ij2bj000 ducks, compared to about 2 
million last year. 
ft Southern Illinois University, cooperating 
