MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
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Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
T. G, Scott, Editor 
Urbana, Illinois 
August, I960 
Vol. 3, No. 7 
W-30-R-14 R. F. Labi sky, R. I. Smith 
The standardized counts of pheasant broods taken on the Sibley area 
during July and August, I960, indicated an increase in the production of broods 
when compared to comparable counts taken during 1959. The number of broods 
observed along 640 miles of roadside transect increased from 193 broods in 1959 
to 235 broods in I960, or 18.7 per cent. Comparable counts for 1957 and 1958 
showed 194 and 240 broods, respectively. Although these data have not been 
adjusted for mean brood age, the data indicate that the I960 pheasant hatch of 
chicks was most favorable and should approach the excellent number of young 
pheasants produced on the Sibley area in 1958. 
W-42-R-10 R. D. Lord, Jr. 
Analysis of data concerning the incidence of Shope’s fibroma, the 
cancerous warts found on some rabbits’ feet, showed that 8 out of 1,164 rabbits 
trapped on the Robert Allerton Park study areas had this disease, but none of 
the 1,506 cottontails taken in the agricultural habitat of central Illinois was 
infected. This disease is caused by a virus which has been demonstrated (in the 
laboratory) to mutate into the myxoma virus which causes myxomatosis, the rabbit 
disease which has wiped out 99 per cent of the Australian rabbit population and 
has since caused much trouble among wild rabbits in Europe. Both myxomatosis 
and Shope’s fibroma are spread by mosquitoes. Cottontails seem to be immune to 
myxomatosis. 
A paper, ”Relation of ectoparasite populations to rabbit populations 
in northern Illinois", was published in the latest issue of the Journal of 
Wildlife Management by Dr. C. 0. Mohr and the project leader. 
The project leader gave two papers, "Seasonal changes in roadside 
activity of cottontails" and "Litter size and latitude in North American 
mammals", at the meetings of the American Institute of Biological Sciences at 
Stillwater, Oklahoma, this month. 
W-55-R-4 
F. Bellrose 
The project was inactive during August. 
NATURAC 
