to introduce a strain of ])hfasants that would sur\i\(." and 

 produce huntable po]3ulations south of the contiguous 

 range occupied by pheasants in Illinois (Ellis 1959; Ellis 

 & Anderson 1963). By 1959, the population had nearly 

 disappeared, indicating that one or more factors were 

 13re\enting the establishment or maintenance of pheasants 

 on this study area. 



An investigation was begun to determine if a defi- 

 ciency of calcium might be a factor in preventing the 

 establishment of pheasants on this area of Illinoian drift. 

 The availability of calcium and its ingestion and subse- 

 c|uent utilization by pheasants on the Cumberland County 

 area were compared with like information from a study 

 area on Wisconsinan drift within the established pheas- 

 ant range. Only jjheasants that had been hatched and 

 reared on the Cumberland County area were used in the 

 comparati\e analysis of calcium ingestion because the 

 effect of possible mineral deficiencies on the Illinoian drift 

 might not be immediately detectable in released birds. 



The study area on Wisconsinan drift was located near 

 .Sibley in Ford and McLean counties of east-central Illi- 

 nois (Fig. 4) ; it contained 23.200 acres, 19,040 in north- 

 western Ford County and 4,160 acres in northeastern 

 McLean County. The soils of Ford County were formed 

 from material deposited by the last invasion of the Wis- 

 consinan ice sheet together with wind-blown material 

 and some water-deposited outw^ash (Smith et al. 1933:8- 

 9) . McLean County soils were formed primarily from 

 loess deposited after the Wisconsinan glacier receded 

 (Hopkins et al. 1915:2). Ford County ranked second 

 and McLean Coimty fourth among Illinois counties in 

 the order of abundance of pheasants in 1957 and 1958 

 (Table 1). 



The study area in Cimrberland County consisted of 

 10,240 acres located near Neoga, about 20 miles south 

 of established pheasant range in Illinois (Fig. 4). Ac- 

 cording to Smith & Smith (1940:7), both the Illinoian 

 and the Wisconsinan glaciers contributed to the soils of 

 Cumberland County. The Illinoian ice sheet covered 

 the coimty and left a broad imdulating plain that still 

 persists over much of the county. The Wisconsinan 

 glacier entered a small portion of the extreme northern 

 edge of the county (Fig. 4) and subsequently formed 

 narrow outwash plains in a number of places on the old 

 Illinoian glacial [jlain. Wi.sconsinan glacial drift did not 

 extend to the Cumberland County study area. No loess 

 deposits in Cumberland County are more than about 40 

 inches in depth and, in large portions of the county, the 

 deposits are so shallow that tiiey are almost indistinguish- 

 able. 



Calcium was available to the [)hcasants on both study 

 areas in the carbonate form as calcitic limestone, Ca- 

 CO.,, and as dolomitic limestone, CaMg(C"0.,) ^. Alder 

 (1927:232) rejiorted that the use of dolomite for a])- 

 proximately 4 months caused domestic pullets to become 

 nervous and sensitive, develop diarrhea, and produce 

 li-wcr eggs-eggs with progressively thinner eggshells; 

 these symptoms rapidly cleared u]) when practically ]jure 

 calcium carbonate was substituted for dolomite. Dale 



(1955:328-329) found that penned pheasant hens fed 

 crushed dolomitic limestone were much more successful 

 in producing eggs and chicks than were hens fed granite 

 grit. Harper (1963:366; 1964:269) reported that grit 

 from gizzards of wild pheasants, both young birds and 

 adult hens, contained amounts of calcite that were dis- 

 proportionately greater than the amounts of dolomite 

 when a\ailabilities of the two materials were measured; 

 in fact, wild pheasants consumed only trace amounts 

 of dolomite. These reports suggest that calcitic lime- 

 stone is desirable for maximiun reproducti\e performance 

 by pheasant hens. 



Samples (excluding grit) of both the Illinoian and 

 Wi.sconsinan glacial soils were tested. The Illinoian sam- 

 ple contained 0.23 per cent calciimi and the Wisconsinan 

 sample 0.15 per cent calcium (Harper & Labisky 1964: 

 725-726), indicating that calcium was at least as abun- 

 dant in soils of the Illinoian drift as in soils of Wiscon- 

 sinan drift ; phosphorus and magnesium levels were slight- 

 ly higher in soils from the Wisconsinan drift than in those 

 from the Illinoian drift. 



The amount of calcium in the grit from fields and 

 .secondary roads on the Illinoian drift was equal to that 

 from fields and secondary roads on the Wisconsinan drift 

 (Harper & Labisky 1964: 725-726) . The grit from roads 

 on both the Illinoian and Wisconsinan drift yielded 5.5 g 

 of calcium per 100 g of grit. The grit in soil satiiples 

 collected from fields of Illinoian and Wisconsinan glacial 

 soils contained 0.2 g of calcium per 100 g of grit. 



The amount of calcium found in the grit from giz- 

 zards of wild pheasant hens during the nesting season 

 (May and June) averaged 2.3 g per 100 g of grit on the 

 Illinoian drift, 1960—1961, and 1.9 on the Wisconsinan 

 drift, 1957-1962 (Harper & Labisky 1964:727). Fem- 

 ora and tibiae from the pheasant hens collected from 

 an area on the Illinoian drift in Cumberland Clounty con- 

 tained a percentage of mineral ash that was slightly higher 

 than the percentage of ash in the femora and tibiae of 

 penned j^heasant hens that had recei\ed diets containing 

 2.34 per cent calcium and equal to the percentage of ash 

 in the femora and tibiae of wild hens collected from 

 areas of Wisconsinan drift (Greeley 1962:190, 192). 

 Harper & Labisky (1964:727-728) reported no signifi- 

 cant differences in amoimts of mineral ash or calcium ash 

 jK-r unit of wet tissue weight of hens collected on Illinoian 

 and Wisconsinan drift during the spring of 1962. Too, 

 grit from the gizzards of young pheasants collected on 

 Illinoian drift had amounts of calcium similar to the 

 amounts from the gi/zards of young birds that were col- 

 lected on the Wisconsinan drift (Harjx'r & Labisky 1964: 

 727-728). 



In the nesting seasons of 1961 and 1962. pheasant 

 hens on the area of Illinoian drift in C'umberland CounI\ 

 (including hens released and hens hatched and reared on 

 the area) comjjared favorably with hens from self-main- 

 taining populations on \Vi.sconsinan drift in (i) number 

 of eggs ])er nest, (ii) number of eggs hatched per success- 

 ful nest, and (iii) nimiber of chicks per hrooil (.\nderson 

 1964:259). These criteria of successful reproduction in- 



II 



