General 



Although the winter of 1959-60 was fairly severe with deep snow and 

 low temperatures, partridge wintered well and an excellent breeding stock 

 appeared to be present as late as March I96O. 



V/eather across the main partridge range was poor, especially in May 

 when heavy rainfall occurred early in the month; this was followed by 

 unseasonably low temperatures. Chick and egg mortality no doubt caused the 

 lower than average covey size noted this fall; average covey size was also 

 influenced by a greater percentage of renesting this year. Hunting pressure 

 was the heaviest we have seen and a few of the smaller coveys were seriously 

 reduced in size. While our December census has turned up some surprisingly 

 strong coveys, and it is evident that a good many coveys, no doubt, were not 

 shot over at all, a larger sample of birds observed in January indicated 

 that coveys were significantly smaller than usual. 

 Winter Covey Counts 



Our December and January census gives a good idea of partridge mortality 

 during the hunting season. Later counts indicate regression in covey size 

 throughout the winter months, and shov/ the effects of weather, predation, etc., 

 on survival, as well as the potential spring breeding population. 



Table 1 shows averages for pre-season covey sizes compared to average 

 covey size later in the winter. 



Pre-season coveys in 196O were the smallest on record, averaging only 

 11.^ birds. December counts are too few to be reliable, but the large 

 January sample shows a reduction of only 25 percent from the pre-season 

 average. This may represent actual conditions, but is is possible that 

 very small coveys have joined forces, masking actual mortality from 

 September to January. 



Although December data are meagre, they do suggest that about 25 percent 

 of the pre-season population is lost by late December, about 35 percent 

 by raid- January and about ^-0 percent by mid-February. 



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