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A study was made on low- and high-tannin sericea lespedeza [Lespedeza cuneata (Dumont) G. Don] to obtain information, using grazing steers, on the relationship of tannin and digestible dry matter (DDM), digestibility of crude protein, daily dry-matter intake, and daily DDM intake. Tannin, crude protein, DDM, digestibility of crude protein, daily dry-matter intake, daily DDM intake, and fecal crude protein were determined. Crude protein percentage was the same for the two forages and remained relatively high throughout three grazing periods frmn May through mid-September. However, crude protein and dry matter of low-tannin sericea were more highly digested than that in high-tannin sericea.

C-Glycosylflavones were isolated from leaf material of Lespedeza cuneata. Isovitexin, isoorientin, vicenin-2 and lucenin-2 were identified.

Lespedeza cuneata contains high levels of phenolics and is a common food plant of the meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus);Penstemon digitalis contains substantial quantities of alkaloids and is a common food plant of meadow voles and prairie voles (M. ochrogaster). We investigated the palatability of these plants and the effects of their secondary compounds on the digestion efficiencies and growth of both species of voles. Voles ate very little of either plant when alternative food was present. Phenolics and alkaloids were extracted from the plants, incorporated into separate artificial diets, and fed to weanling voles for three weeks.Lespedeza phenolics reduced the growth of meadow voles but not prairie voles throughout the feeding trial. These compounds disrupted digestion, reducing protein digestibility by more than half.Penstemon alkaloids lowered only the initial growth rates of prairie voles and had no significant effect on meadow voles. Prairie voles tended to increase food consumption rates on both Lespedeza and Penstemon diets. This response offset some of the decrease in digested protein intake in the first case, and offset the increased metabolic cost of processing the diet in the latter case. Our results indicate that although Lespedeza phenolics and Penstemon alkaloids do influence consumption and digestibility of artificial diets, they do not greatly reduce the performance (i.e., growth or survival) of voles when consumed at levels generally observed for wild voles. However, these compounds probably do place an upper limit on the amount of fresh Lespedeza and Penstemon that can be consumed and contribute to the generalist feeding strategy of voles.

The leaves of sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata [Dumont] G. Don) have been found to contain more tannin than stems. Tannin has been found to reduce digestible dry matter (DDM) of sericea and digestibility of crude protein. An experiment was conducted to study quality of high and low-tannin sericea leaves and stems separately. Low-tannin sericea leaves averaged 20 percentage points higher in DDM than high-tannin leaves, and 19 percentage points higher than low-tannin stems as indicated by the in vivo nylon bag method. The DDM of low-tannin stems was as high as that of high-tannin leaves. High-tannin leaves averaged only slightly higher in DDM than stems of high-tannin plants. Tannin in both leaves and stems of the high and low-tannin groups was negatively associated with crude protein. Data indicate that lowering the tannin content of sericea by breeding increases both the percentage and digestibility of crude protein. Much improvement in sericea forage quality can be made by breeding for low-tannin and high leaf percentage.

Quail coveys on an experimental area on the Eastern Shore of Maryland increased from 5 to 38 in 8 years. All new coveys could be related to one or more specific management practices, and such practices rather than weather or other factors appeared to be responsible for increased quail numbers. Starting in 1957, a number of soil, water, and wildlife conservation measures were applied on a 3,000acre area of cropland, pasture, and woodland. Practices affecting bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) habitat included (1) creation and seeding of waterways and diversion terraces, (2) retirement and seeding under federal programs of headlands and borders of crop fields, and (3) establishment of plantings designed to improve farm-game habitat. Through 1964, these practices included seeding 49.4 acres to grass and 8.5 miles of 30-ft strips to sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata), and planting 7.1 miles of multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) hedges and 14 acres of food-producing shrubs. Survival of plantings was excellent and growth was good. Land-use changes dictated by practical farming considerations, primarily fallowing odd areas and reducing grazing intensity, also improved quail habitat. The most effective habitat-improvement measures were planting multiflora hedges adjoining pasture or with an herbaceous border, planting strips of grass or sericea adjoining woody cover, and reducing grazing. Winter cover and nesting cover, not food, apparently were the most important requirements of the quail population. Coveys formed in conjunction with multiflora hedges appeared on an average of 3.7 years after hedge planting, and 2.6 years if an herbaceous border was planted with the hedge. Response to provision of nesting cover occurred within 2 years after seeding. Total cost of plantings was $2,800. With a 10-year minimum productive lifetime of plantings, cost amounted to approximately 65 cents per bird per year for additional quail produced by 1964. There were few established examples and little practical experience to guide the large-scale habitat improvement projects that followed World War II. And with few exceptions little effort was put forth initially toward realistic project evaluations (Marshall 1953). Under these conditions it is hardly surprising that recent appraisals of postwar habitat management for farm game have found ample grounds for criticism (Klimstra 1956, Wunz 1959, Nelson et al. 1960, Hanson and Miller 1961, Carson 1963, Scott 1965). Failures must be documented and poorly planned programs criticized if habitat management as a supplement to other management techniques is to be fully appraised. It is equally necessary to document instances in which habitat improvement has been a success. This report describes such an instance: the response of a population of bobwhites to habitat improvement efforts over an 8-year period. 1 Present address: Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, Dundee, Illinois. 2 Present address: U. S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, Washington, D. C.

These differences may be due to small errors of measurement on the adjacent rangeland resulting from upward water fluxes. Nonweighing lysimeters similar to the one proposed by Van Bavel and Stirk (1967) would eliminate both the problem of upward water movement and percolation through the profile. In conjunction with the neutron method, these lysimeters would be a useful tool for determining ET over short time intervals.

Sustaining values of foods that might be useful to bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) under emergency conditions were tested by feeding penned bobwhites single foods during fall and winter and observing their survival and condition. In the pilot study, 11 foods were tested for 38 days; 132 bobwhites of mixed sex and age-groups were employed. In the principal study, 6 of these foods were tested for 14 days on 84 young birds of both sexes. On the basis of food consumption, weight performance, depot fat, lipid levels, and other physiological measures, pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), sassafras (Sassafras albidum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), and milo (Sorgum vulgare) had the highest sustaining values among the foods tested. Their values exceeded those of such well- known winter staples for bobwhites as corn (Zea mays) and Korean lespedeza (Lespedeza stipulacea). Sericea (Lespedeza cuneata), rose (Rosa multiflora) hips, and smooth sumac (Rhus glabra) ranked lowest. The purpose of this study was to com- pare the sustaining values of certain native and cultivated bobwhite foods that might be useful under emergency conditions. Performance of bobwhites sustained on these foods was compared with those liv- ing on foods known to be staples for quail. Food consumption, weight performance, and several measures of the physiological condition of the birds were used as indices to the sustaining value of each food tested. These data were supplemented by chem- ical analyses of the foods. The study was similar in some respects to those of Erring- ton (1931, 1937) and Williamson (1955, 1956, 1957). Our study was prompted by Stanford's discovery that many Missouri bobwhites fared poorly on the emergency foods avail- able to them during a prolonged period of snow cover in the winter of 1959-60. Some bobwhites were found starving, although their crops were full of sericea seeds. This paper is a joint contribution from