planted to corn and soybeans was greatest in counties 

 in which pheasants were most abundant; tlie correlation 

 of pheasant populations with the acreage of row crops 

 (,■ = 0.444) was highly significant (Table 3). A high 

 proportion of the land planted to row crops was charac- 

 teristic of counties in which cash-grain farms predomi- 

 nated. A lower proportion of the land in row crops was 

 found in counties in which dairy and livestock farming 

 necessitated greater acreages of tame hay and pasture. 

 Pheasants were most abundant in counties in which at 

 least 45 per cent of the cropland was ])lanted to row 

 crops (Table 1) . 



The proportion of cropland planted to small grains, 

 mainly oats (Arena sativa) and wheat (Triticum aesti- 

 vum) , was also significantly correlated (r = 0.414) with 

 the abundance of pheasants (Table 3). Small grains 

 occupied 20 to 25 per cent of the cropland in most 

 covmties where pheasants were abundant. Small grains, 

 particularly oats, were important in that they usually 



I 



PHEASANTS PER 

 100 MILES 



■ -lOO.r 

 H-50.I-I00.0 

 Em -10.1-50.0 



□ -I.I -10.0 



□ -1. 0-0.0 



Fig. 2.— Distribvuioii and aljiiiulance of plica.sanls in Illi- 

 nois as mapped from data obtained from six censuses by 

 rural mail carriers, 1957 and 19.')8 (modified from maps by 

 Greeley ct al. 1962:6—12). Twenty-eight countic^s in which no 

 pheasants were observed during the February, 1957, census 

 were classed as nonpheasant range (south of heavy line). 



MIXED 

 LIVESTOCK - 



LIVESTOCK. 

 AND GRAIN 



PER CENT OF LAND AREA 

 IN FOREST OR WOODLAND 



0-9 

 [■■■•.•.•.■.'J 10-19 

 lllllllllllll 20-29 

 r.'.'.'J 30-39 



40 AND OVER 



GENERAL FARMING 

 AND FRUIT 



Fig. 3.— Rank of Illinois counties in pheasant abundance 

 (1 — 74 in Table 1) in relation to farming-type areas (after 

 Ross & Case 1956:32) and forestation (after King & ^Vinters 

 1952:22). Counties are ranked in order of pheasant abundance 

 as determined from censuses by rural mail carriers, 1957 and 

 1958. No rank is assigned to 28 southern counties. 



])rovided a nurse crop for grass-and-legume sccdings, 

 which produced hay and pasture crops in the subsequent 

 year or years. Small grains were important also in that 

 the stubble provided top-quality roosting habitat— an 

 often overlooked requirement— for pheasants during late 

 summer, fall, winter, and early spring. 



Pheasants were most abundant in coimties with pro- 

 portionately .small acreages of hay and pasture, both of 

 which consisted mainly of tame grasses and legumes. Yet 

 studies of the nesting ecology of pheasants in the cash- 

 grain area of east-central Illinois during a 5-year period, 

 1957-1961, showed that between 50 and 75 per cent 

 of the annual hatch of pheasant chicks was produced 

 in tame hay. Fewer acres of hay were reported in the 

 cash-grain area than in other farming-type areas: the 

 forage crops, hay and pasture, were not utiii/ed by 

 farmcis so intensively in the cash-grain area as in the 

 dairy and livestock areas. The counties of Livingston 

 and Ford, whicii supported the greatest abundance of 



