INTRODUCTION



  Knowledge of the seasonal food habits of Wisconsin animals has
numerous blank pages. Many of our sportsmen are unaware of the
feeding requirements of the game they hunt, and many conservation-
ists cannot answer the questions that food habits pose with regard to
the actual food and cover needs of faltering species. Food habit
studies are important not only in determining the food preferences of a
particular species, but also in discerning the food relationships existing
between the animals in a community.
  The objectives of these studies were to determine by laboratory
analyses and field inspection the food habits of certain Wisconsin game
animals, and to correlate where possible the foods eaten with their
availability. Information on food preferences in relation to the availa-
bility of the foods eaten will provide game managers with the means
for charting a course of habitat management that will best satisfy the
needs of each game species present in an area. Although numerous
studies on food habits have been published in other states, problems
arising under different local conditions necessitated a Wisconsin study.


                 MATERIALS AND METHODS

  Animals were collected for food habit studies only when information
could be obtained on the availability of the foods eaten.
  Analyses were carried on in the food habits laboratory at the State
Experimental Game and Fur Farm, Poynette, Wisconsin. Crop and
stomach contents were first placed in a fine-mesh strainer and washed
thoroughly. Leaf fragments were removed, placed between two glass
slides, and allowed to dry. The rest of the food material was dried in
an oven. Food items were then sorted into separate petri dishes accord-
ing to species. Identifications were made with the aid of reference col-
lections at the Poynette laboratory and at the University of Wisconsin.
All food items were measured volumetrically. In measuring bulky items,
air spaces were displaced with lead shot. Additional techniques, used
in some of the following studies, will be discussed in connection with
the species under consideration.
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