Vol. 17, No. 5 
Page 2 
will be pulled behind the Turf Quakers. Thus, the same type of seeding operation 
successfully used on the FCMU will be used on W-85-D seedings--the order of 
operations will be somewhat different. 
Ecology and Management of Sguirrels C* M. Nixon, 
S. P. Havera 
Squirrels have often been observed gnawing bark on such trees as sugar maple 
(Acer saccharum ), red maple (A* rubrum ), elm (Ulmus spp.), beech (Fagus grandifolia ) 
and basswood (Tilia americana ) during winter and early spring after a year of low 
mast production. However, the eating of pith from the center of twigs by squirrels 
has never been reported. On 23 November 1974 in the University of Illinois' 
Trelease Woods near Urbana, a female fox squirrel was seen clipping the end seg¬ 
ments of Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra ) stems, splitting these stems in half, and 
consuming the relatively large amount of pith from the center of these twigs. 
During a subsequent trip to Trelease Woods on 29 November, freshly split twigs 
were found under 10 different buckeye trees and a male fox squirrel was observed 
eating buckeye pith. Examination of the leaf litter revealed that squirrels had 
also eaten buckeye pith in Trelease Woods in previous years. Trips during 
December and March revealed a continued light consumption of buckeye pith through¬ 
out the winter. 
In Brownfield Woods, approximately 2 miles from Trelease Woods, freshly cut 
buckeye twigs were found under one tree. This feeding habit was not observed on 
buckeye trees in any other of our study areas throughout the state this past 
winter, nor in any other tree species in Trelease Woods. 
Samples of buckeye pith and pith from other abundant Trelease tree species 
(red oak, basswood, white ash (Fraxinus americana ), and sugar maple) were 
analyzed to find why squirrels were eating only buckeye pith. Results showed that 
buckeye pith is almost as high in sugar content as sugar maple (11.6 percent 
versus 12.4 percent, respectively), whereas pith from the other tree species 
consisted of less than 4.0 percent total sugars. There was also a significant 
difference in the composition of the sugars in buckeye and the pith from the other 
species. For instance, sugar maple pith was 55*3 percent sucrose, a 12-carbon 
sugar, whereas buckeye pith was 65*9 percent raffinose, an 18-carbon sugar. 
Raffinose is a very sweet tasting sugar, and it consisted of less than 6.0 percent 
of the sugar content in the pith of the other tree species. Because of local food 
conditions, Trelease squirrels may have been eating buckeye pith as an early winter 
energy source since it is high in sugar content. However, they may have been 
eating buckeye pith because of its sweet taste. 
Responses of Bobwhites to Habitat Manipulation J. A. Ellis 
Food items found in the crops of quail harvested on the Dale and Forbes areas 
during the 1973-74 hunting season were identified, and the volumes of.all seeds 
except acorn fragments (Quercus spp.) were determined. Seeds of 31 species of 
plants were found in 174 crops obtained from the Dale Area. The 10 most important 
species listed in order of decreasing volume of seeds consumed were: sunflower 
