Vo 1. 14, No. 12 
Page 2 
A North Carolina study revealed that litters born in leaf nests experienced 
a higher average rate of mortality than litters reared in tree cavities. The 
low capture rate of first-litter young on this study area in late May 1971 
may indicate a high incidence of litters born in leaf nests. There were only 
2 spring-born young among 66 squirrels captured, yet 8 females that had 
recently nursed a spring-born litter were captured. 
4. Responses of Bobwhites to Habitat Manipulation J. A. Ellis 
From 1964 through 1971, 593 and 530 juvenile quail from Forbes and Dale, 
respectively, were aged by measuring the length of the last molted primary. 
These samples were from the first 7 days of the hunting season for each year. 
According to published charts on aging, nine percent of the juveniles from 
Dale were >150 days old when shot. Seventy-three percent of the sample of 
juvenile quail from Dale were between 101 and 149 days old. On Forbes, 10 
percent of the sample of juveniles were ^150 days old when shot and 63 per¬ 
cent were between 101 and 149 days old. The bulk of the juveniles harvested 
during the first week of the hunting seasons were hatched during the period 
from the third week of June to mid-August. There was no correlation between 
the prehunt densities and the various age cohorts in the populations. 
(Erratum. The last sentence in November's No. 4 report should have 
read: However, our observations and those of park personnel suggest a lower 
prehunt population in 1971 than in 1970.) 
5. Responses of Prairie Chickens to Habit at Manipulation . R. L. Westemeier, 
-- D. R. Vance 
Prescribed burning is proving to be an effective and economical means 
of maintaining attractive nesting cover on sanctuaries for prairie chickens 
(MV/RL 14(11) :2). The highest densities of nests thus far recorded on the 
Bogota Study Area have been found in various types of grasslands after a 
burn in March or August. Burning in March appears better from the stand¬ 
points of encouraging the development of prairie vegetation and stimulating 
legumes, but burning in August appears better for such domestic sods as 
redtop and timothy, which have matured and are essentially dormant by August. 
Limited nesting has occurred during the first nesting season after an August 
burn, in contrast to no nesting after a March burn. 
For the past 3 years (I 969 - 7 I), the mean density was 4.2 acres per 
nest for cover in the second or third nesting seasons after August burns, 
and 40.5 percent of the August burn plots contained one or more nests. 
The mean density for March burns during the second, third, or fourth nesting 
season after burning was 8.4 acres per nest, with 29*7 percent of the March 
burn plots containing one or more nests. These densities for the burn plots 
exceed the density of 9*0 acres per nest for 759 acres that were unburned. 
The unburned acreage included sods in their second growing season or older. 
Nesting hens, therefore, find the cover after an August burn more 
attractive than cover burned in March or unburned cover, but because prairie 
restoration is also a prime objective in the development of a sanctuary 
system, burning during March should continue. 
