ed several potential shelters but had
not attempted to use them, presumably because it was not familiar with
the area. Although for several months afterward traps were operated in
the cottontail's home range area and in the area where it escaped, the
animal was never recaptured.

SIZE AND SHAPE OF HOME RANGE

Of the 89 cottontails observed in the study, 35 were captured in
live-traps only once and were never seen in the field or trailed. The
remaining 54 served for calculation of home range by one or more
methods. The minimum, maximum and average home ranges for these 54
individuals were calculated by each of five methods. All individuals
for which any area was recorded were included in the average.
Incomplete home ranges lower the averages. According to the most
reliable method (Composite Method) 30 male cottontails had home ranges
of between 0.46 acre and 12.19 acres and 24 female cottontails had home
ranges of between 0.46 acre and 12.62 acres. The average for males was
5.05 acres and the average for females was 4.81 acres. The average for
all 54 cottontails was 4.86 acres.

Because of irregularities in live-trapping and field observation some
cottontails were more intensively studied than were others; one
cottontail was followed one time only, while another was trapped 26
times, followed three times, and seen in the field six times. It was
necessary to determine which cottontails had been studied sufficiently
to determine the approximate extent of their home ranges.

[Illustration: FIG. 1. Correlation between average size of home range
and number of "peripheral points" (marginal records, which form angles
when the range is outlined). On the average, a sufficient number of
records to yield approximately nine peripheral points must be obtained
before the full extent of the home range is revealed.]

The average area, in acres, of home range was plotted, on a graph,
against the number of peripheral points (Figure 1). When a home range
had nine or more peripheral points, on an average, the size of home
range did not increase significantly with additional captures,
observations in the field, or records of trails. Home ranges with less
than nine peripheral points were likely to be increased in size with
each new observation. A similar situation has been shown by previous
authors who have plotted the size of home range against number of
captures in live-traps, where only live-trapping was used to gather
data. Theref