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Vo I. II, No. II 
Page 3 
Only 14 percent of 42 nests found in fields dominated by redtop were situated in 
100 percent redtop; 67 percent of the nests were located in redtop with an admixture 
° ne °r more other species; and 19 percent were in vegetation containing either 
insignificant amounts of redtop or none at all. In fields dominated by timothy, 
owever, 83 percent of 12 nests were situated in 100 percent timothy; nest sites 
° k e rema 'ning 17 percent had an admixture of one or more other species. Timothy, 
a bunchgrass which resembles the native prairie grasses to a greater degree than 
redtop, may be preferred to redtop. With the exception of timothy, it appears that 
nesting hens seek situations of diverse cover within fields that are generally 
monotypic. Current efforts to establish and maintain nesting cover on prairie 
chicken sanctuaries in Illinois are aimed at providing more diverse cover types 
(especially sem.-natural prairie) than are possible with pure redtop seedings. 
6 . Rabbit Management 
K. P. Thomas 
During the fall of 1968, 239 captures of rabbits were made on the sharecrop- 
burn zone (Zone 1) of the Forbes Area. The cover type adjacent to each capture site 
was noted to establish the cover types preferred by cottontails. 
The trapline was approximately 4 miles long, with nonbaited traps located 
about 50 yards apart. Brush bordered at least one side of 3 miles of trapline- 
approximately 0.6 mile of the brush was burned during 1967 . Captures adjacent’to 
nonburned brush totaled 132 ( 5.6 captures per mile), and 105 adjacent to burned 
rus ( .7 captures per mile). Cottontails were apparently more abundant in 
proximity to the burned brush than to the nonburned brush. 
% 
