Vol. 13, No. 1 
Page 3 
5. Responses of Prairie Chickens to Habitat Manipulation R. L. Westemeier 
Each of the seven booming grounds present on the Bogota Area during the 
spring of 1969 was systematically checked for prairie chicken activity during the 
late summer, fall, and early winter. As in past autumns and springs, the booming 
grounds were checked at about weekly intervals during the first hour after day¬ 
break; efforts were also made to locate additional flocks (in other areas) and to 
determine the sex composition of all flocks located. 
Although each of the seven booming grounds became suitable (four were made 
suitable deliberately by burning, plowing, or mowing) during the fall, only one 
ground on private farmland was active. Counts ranged from 9 cocks as early as 
August 11, to approximately 75 cocks by October on the main booming ground. Use 
of the present major booming ground (by seven cocks) was first noted in the 
spring of I 966 . Then, for three falls and two springs, beginning with the fall 
of 1967, this ground has been the center of the home range of the Bogota flock. 
Nearly all, or perhaps all, of the cocks in the past three fall populations have 
visited the major ground in autumn. In the springs of 1968 and 1969, 43 percent 
and 63 percent of the cocks, respectively, have concentrated their booming 
activities on the main booming ground. Soil surface conditions on the major 
ground were as follows: fall 1967 through spring I 968 , plowed ground; fall 1968 , 
fallow disked ground and new wheat seeding; sprTng 1969, green wheat and soybean 
stubble; and fall 1969 to present, closely mowed legumes and fallow disked ground. 
The fields involve^ have ranged from 7 to 25 acres in size. 
Thus, while recent observations indicate a second encouraging increase of 
approximately 40 percent in the population level, the concentration of the Bogota 
flock is a matter of concern. Booming grounds were dispersed over 3 Sections 
during the spring of 1969, but nesting sanctuaries are now established in 6 
Sections. Accordingly, 10-acre portions of each sanctuary have been or will be 
burned, mowed, or plowed for booming grounds in an effort to promote a more 
efficient dispersion of the breeding population in 1976* 
6. Rabbit Management G. Rose 
During the fall trapping period in 1969 on the 4-H Area at Robert A1lerton 
Park, lengths and weights of captured cottontail rabbits were recorded on the 
first date of capture in each month, and weight-length relationships were used 
to calculate condition indices, using the formula: C.l. = ^ - , where W is 
the weight in grams and L is the length in decimeters (Bailey, J. A. I 967 . MWftL 
10(7) :3). The mean condition index for October (121 animals) was 5*57, for 
November (104 animals) was 5-59, and for December (46 animals) was 5-76. The 
differences between means for October and November were not statistically 
significant at the 95 percent level of significance. The December mean was 
significantly greater than the November mean and highly significantly greater 
than the October mean. No statistically significant differences between means 
were detectable among the months October, November, and December, l 968 (MWRl 
12(2) :3-4), although Bailey had found highly significant differences among the 
months November through March during the years 1964 through 1967* The differences 
between the means for the months of fall 1969 and those for the corresponding 
months of fall 1 968 were not significant. 
