490 
calities, because of agricultural interests 
there is little potential beaver range in 
the state. In the more heavily forested 
counties, however, particularly where 
small streams or lakes, and cottonwood, 
willow, soft maple and other hardwood 
occur, the 
stands beaver would find a 
Fig. 30.—An example of Illinois terrain, Pope County, suitable for bobcat range. 
ILtinois NATURAL History SURVEY BULLETIN 
Vol. 22, Art. 6 
bobcats may still occur in very low num- 
bers or, in the event of suitable protection, 
they may appear there in the future. Sev- 
eral bobcats were reported taken in Alex- 
ander and Jackson counties in 1942, from 
the forest-bluffs habitat along the Missis- 
sippt River. In view of the general ab-- 
Semi- 
wilderness forests and broken terrain offer territory attractive to this species. 
limited amount of permanent habitat. 
One well-used beaver habitat was cre- 
ated in Union County by flooding a small 
hardwood timbered bottom, fig. 29. It is 
not improbable that cottonwood- and wil- 
low-bordered stripmine lakes would sup- 
port beavers. There is, of course, no like- 
lihood of this species regaining its former 
importance in the state. 
Bobcat 
The bobcat, or wildcat, is another IIli- 
nois mammal now found in very low num- 
bers. Decimation was rapid after 1910 
because bobcats offer exciting sport, are 
condemned as destructive predators by 
farmers and many sportsmen, and require 
a semiwilderness habitat. he logging of 
cypress swamps in the southern tip. of 
the state probably destroyed the last good 
bobeat range in Illinois. In several south- 
ern Illinois counties where sizable areas 
of forests and bluffs are found, fig. 30, 
sence of suitable range, it is likely that 
bobcats will never regain their former 
status, even in the more heavily timbered 
parts of the state. Other recent records 
of bobcat occurrence in Illinois are given 
in the Mohr report. 
Bobcats, because of the very low value 
of the fur, have never been of any appre- 
ciable importance in the fur trade, Illinois 
or elsewhere. 
House Cat 
The house cat is now one of the most 
abundant carnivores in Illinois, as in many 
other states. Its ecological influence has 
never been adequately studied, but that it 
is an important predator in farm regions 
can hardly be doubted. No close estimate 
of the Illinois house cat population is made 
here, but one per household, rural and 
urban, is not an exaggeration. This would 
amount to over 1,500,000 cats, of which 
at least half are free to range over game- 
