Vol. 13, No. 9 
Page 2 
Initial efforts in this study will involve selection of study areas 
representative of both gray and fox squirrel ( Sciurus carolinensis and niqer ) 
habitat in northern, central, and southern Illinois, a literature review of 
squirrel ecology, and formulation of study plans. 
4. Responses of Bobwhites to Habitat Manipulation J. A. Ellis, 
D. R. Vance 
Ideally, prescribed burning of habitat for quail management should reduce 
all dead vegetation to ash, and the resulting vegetative regrowth should be an 
open stand, primarily an admixture of annual grasses and weeds. Many environ¬ 
mental factors influence the vegetative response to burning; among these are 
the vegetative history, the size of the unit burned, and the weather conditions 
at the time of, and after, burning. 
For economic reasons, we enlarged the size and reduced the number of 
prescribed burn plots on the Dale Area in 1970 (Ml/RL 13(4) :2). V/e did not, 
however, achieve the desired results with the burns in 1970, unlike our success 
in previous years. Because the plots were larger, it was difficult to run fire 
throughout all the plots, and much dead vegetation remained, l/ith smaller 
plots, it was possible to run fire through an entire plot without much difficulty. 
The incomplete burns in 1970, plus the above-normal rainfall during April, 
May, and June and the resulting luxuriant vegetative growth, was reflected in 
the amount of bare ground recorded in quadrats taken in late July. An average 
of 14.2 percent bare ground was recorded in 1970, whereas an average of 25.5 
percent bare ground was recorded in 1969 on plots burned that year. 
5. Responses of Pra i r i e Ch i ckens to Hab i tat Manipulation R. L. Westemeier 
A total of 61 prairie chicken nests were found on the sanctuaries at 
Bogota during the summer of 1970. Thirty-nine of the 61 nests successfully 
hatched; 21 were abandoned and/or destroyed by predators; and the fate of 1 
nest remained unknown. The success level of 65 percent hatched nests was 
slightly under the mean of 69 percent for the 7-y e ar period of 1 963-69 (Ml/RL 
13(7):2). Two nests (in addition to the 61 above) were reportedly destroyed 
by plowing on private farmland. 
The overall density of prairie chicken nests in 1970 on sanctuaries 
(averaging 12.4 acres per nest) represented the third highest rate of nest 
establishment since 1963* The sanctuary acreage searched, 1963 through 
1970 , was 62 , 97> 152 , 152 , 214, 290 , 347 > and 566 , respectively; the 
respective number of acres searched per nest found was 6 . 9 ^ 5*7> 33.0, 30.4, 
21.4, 16.1, 12.4, and 9*3* Thus, it is evident that current densities of 
nests on the comparatively large sanctuary system are approaching those 
recorded in 1963-64, when a limited sanctuary acreage was available for the 
Bogota flock. A 13-acre field on the west end of the 77-acre Yeatter 
Sanctuary comtained 7 nests ( 1.9 acres per nest) this summer and therefore 
exceeded the previous record density of o nests in a 19 -acre (2.4 acres per 
nest) field on the same sanctuary in 1964. 
