Vo I. 8, No. 7 
Page 5 
^■ Responses o£ Prairie Chickens to Habitat Man?pulation r. j, Ellis 
A blanket of snow 4-8 inches deep covered the Bogota Study Area from 
, January 15 to January 19, I 965 . During this period, the 5 square miles where 
prairie chickens were most frequently observed during recent months were traversed 
and the activities of prairie chickens, as indicated by signs left in the snow, 
were noted (Table 4). Approximately 20 miles were traveled. The signs observed 
indicated that, during this period of snow, the prairie chickens at Bogota roosted 
' n d £-°f wheat stubb,e or in idle fields of grass, and fed in corn and soybean 
stubble fields. 
Table 4. Prairie chicken signs observed in the snow on 5 square miles of the Boqot 
Study Area, January 1 5 -1 9 , I 965 . 
Cover Type 
Percent of 
Area Searched 
Sign Observed 
Soybean Stubble 
36.3 
21 prairie chickens feeding 
Corn Stubble 
26.4 
5 prairie chickens loafing; signs of 
feeding in 2 fields 
Wheat Stubble 
11.6 
14 prairie chickens loafing; 43 roost 
forms 
Grass Pasture 
6.4 
No sign observed 
Grass* 
5-7 
33 prairie chicken roost forms 
Legumes* 
2.6 
No sign observed 
Other Types 
11.0 
21 prairie chickens loafing in 
fencerow 
* Idle fields. 
6. Rabbit Ma n a gement J. A. Bailey, R. J. Siglin 
Beginning in May I 965 , cover preference tests were run on penned cottontail 
rabbits, using a Latin-square design for the test plots. Four to five rabbits 
were kept in a 5/8-acre pen located approximately 3 miles northeast of Urbana, 
linois. The entire pen was mowed regularly except for the cover plots being 
tested. The test area consisted of four duplicate plots each of grass, forbs 
slats, and stakes, forming a Latin-square of 16, 4-foot square plots, with each 
cover type represented once in each column and row. 
The grass plots consisted of 80-90 percent wild rye ( Elymus spp.) and up to 
15 percent Carex spp. or bluegrass (Poa spp.). Dominant species in the forb plot; 
were wood sorrel (Oxalis spp.), Aster spp., and common ragweed ( Ambrosia 
g . 1I emi 1 ia ). ^ Other species present in the forb plots were curly dock (Rumex 
£QS 2 us) daisy fleabane ( Erigeron s trigosus ), 1 amb's-quarters (Ch enopodium album] 
pric y ettuce (Lac tuca sca^iola ), smartweed ( Polygonum pensylvani cum), and wild 
parsnip (£i. s . tinac a sativa). Neither the grass plots nor the forb plots were 
