major weather factors affecting productivity and abun- 

 dance of pheasants. During the 1940's, pheasant pojjula- 

 lions in most midwestern states suffered drastic reductions 

 in their numbers (Kimball 1948:292). In Illinois, the 

 decline of pheasants was probably of shorter duration 

 than in most other states (Robertson 1958:122). There 

 was fairh' general agreement among investigators that 

 unfa\orable spring weather, persisting for several years in 

 widely separated areas, may have caused the widespread 

 reduction in numbers of pheasants in the 1940's (Allen 

 1950:107). 



Investigators in the Midwest have reported that the 

 production of yoimg pheasants has been adversely in- 

 fluenced by unusually cool, wet springs (Allen 1947:234- 

 236: Ginn' 1948: 4-5; Erickson et al. "l951 : 31-32) . Kim- 

 ball (1948:309) reported that pheasant populations in 

 South Dakota during the 1940"s did not increase in 

 years (with one exception) in which the weather during 



June was either wet and cold or unusually hot and dry. 

 Ko/icky et al. (1955:141) reported that fall populations 

 of pheasants in Iowa showed decreases in years during 

 wliidi the breeding season was characterized by below 

 normal temperatures and above normal rainfall, but 

 that, with above normal tem]X'ratures, amounts of prc- 

 ci])itation apparently had no acherse effect on the num- 

 bers of pheasants in fall. Dale (1942:18) reported that 

 wet years (greater than average rainfall in June, July, 

 and August) were not detrimental to pheasants in Michi- 

 gan. The evidence regarding the influence of gross spring 

 weather on pheasant production and survi\al is not 

 clear-cut. 



Buss, Meyer, & Kabat (1951:34-35) reported that 

 both wild and artificially propagated pheasants deposited 

 their first eggs on approximately the same dates each 

 year regardless of year-to-year variations in spring wea- 

 ther. Although the dates of first eggs are approximately 



Fig. 5.— Flock of plu'as.iiits in woody (■o\('r iiloni; fciuiTow diiriiiL; pcriofl of dci-p miow in I'.KiU. Ilr,i\\ ,ii i uniiil.uions of 

 snow are infrcqiirnl in past-central Illinoi.s. In winUT, many of the pheasants in this area arc found within about UK) yards of 

 woody vegetation, even though such vegetation is scarce. Pheasants arc a.ssociatcd more often with the type of cover shown 

 here than with hedgerows of osage orange or niulliflora rose. 



13 



