chicken occurs in small numbers, were studied to ascertain the 

 per cent of feed crops and of grasslands in areas of marginal quality 

 for this bird. These findings appear in Table 1. 



Optimum Townships. — The areas of greatest abundance of the 

 greater prairie chicken in Kansas are in southwestern Anderson 

 County, southwestern CoflFey County and northwestern Woodson 

 County. Two townships characteristic of the best of this range 

 were studied to determine the pattern of land use that is optimum 

 for the greater prairie chicken. The summary of land use is as 

 follows: 



Anderson County, Welda Township 



Per cent in grass 62.87 



Per cent in feed crops 18.64 



Woodson County, Center Township 



Per cent in grass 66.35 



Per cent in feed crops 16.64 



It is evident that approximately one-third of the land must be 

 in permanent grass to provide the minimum requirements for the 

 greater prairie chicken in Kansas, and that approximately two- 

 thirds in permanent grass provides the optimum condition. The 

 findings relative to the minimum requirements are in close agree- 

 ment with those of Schwartz (1945:23) for Missouri, but he found 

 no correlation above the minimum between the amount of grassland 

 and the number of prairie chickens. It will be shown later that the 

 Bluestem Hills Area supports fewer prairie chickens than does the 

 Eastern Area. This fact is thought to be the result, at least in part, 

 of the poor interspersion of food and cover in the Bluestem Hills 

 Area in Kansas. See figure 3 on page 13. 



[16] 



