croplands. By the first of September, the young are indistinguish- 

 able from the adults, except when the birds are in the hand, and at 

 approximately this time they begin to assemble in flocks. 



In the autumn of 1949 a part of Welda Township, Anderson 

 County, was chosen for the intensive study of the life history of 

 the greater prairie chicken. Originally it was planned to use ap- 

 proximately one township for this study, but the density of the 

 population of prairie chickens, and other factors, made it more 

 practical to select a small area where a single flock could be studied 

 in greater detail. The arrangement of roads, fields and farmsteads 

 and the positions of ponds, booming grounds and feeding areas in 

 the Welda Area are shown in figure 4. 



Description of the Welda Area 



Permanent grasslands used both for pasture and for hay are of 

 native species, predominantly the bluestems, Andropogon scoparius 

 Michx. and A. gerardi Vitman, the latter occurring mostly in un- 



FiG. 4. The Welda Area. Twp. 22S, R. 19E, Anderson County, 

 Kansas. C — cropland; G — grassland used for hay; Gp — grassland 

 used for pasture; F — ^farmyard; F-1 and F-2 — feeding areas; B-1, 

 B-2, etc. — booming grounds. Ponds are represented by irregular 

 enclosed areas and the center of sections by circles. 



grazed areas. In most pastures, grazing is well regulated, and good 

 stands of grass occur, but in the northeast quarter of section 15, 

 and about the large pond in section 10, overgrazing by cattle is 

 severe and annual weeds, predominantly ragweeds. Ambrosia ar- 

 temisiifolia L. and A. bidentata Michx., blue grass, Poa pratensis 



[18] 



