The principal range of the greater prairie chicken is classified 

 into four types, each a modification of Fly's (1946) Natural Agri- 

 cultural Resource Areas of Kansas ( see Figure 3 ) . Data concerning 

 farm crops from townships representative of each type for 1950 

 were obtained from the files of the Kansas Crop and Livestock 

 Reporting Service, 203 Federal Building, Topeka, Kansas. These 

 data were gathered by township assessors and were from civil 

 townships varying in size from 13,000 to 66,000 acres. Table 1 

 lists the minimum, average and maximum per cent of the total 

 farmland in native grass and in feed crops for each range type and 

 for six townships in southeastern Kansas which are considered to 

 be marginal range for the greater prairie chicken. The term "feed 

 crops'' as used here includes corn, wheat, sorghum and soy-beans. 

 These four crops provide the chief foods used by the greater prairie 

 chicken in autumn and winter. 



Table 1. The Per Cent of the Total Farmland in Native Grass and in 



Feed Crops 







Grassland 





Feed Crops 







Minimum 



Average Maximum 



Minimum 



Average 



Maximum 



Eastern 

 Area 



57.49 



64.26 



71.22 



14.57 



20.74 



28.74 



Blackjack 

 Prairie . . 



. . 58.17 



75.00 



93.18 



3.71 



13.34 



22.94 



Bluestem 

 Hills 



73.78 



86.82 



92.65 



6.72 



7.30 



15.69 



Western 

 Area 



45.25 



57.15 



69.98 



14.62 



26.70 



37.86 



Marginal 

 townships 



. 37.69 



43.21 



49.87 



26.37 



33.69 



49.68 



The names of the subdivisions of the principal range of the 

 greater prairie chicken in Kansas, as hereinafter used, were chosen 

 by me as descriptive of the location or chief characteristic of each 

 subdivision. The **backbone" of the bluestem prairie country in 

 Kansas is a narrow strip extending from the Oklahoma border in 

 Chautauqua and Cowley counties to near Marysville in Marshall 

 County. This area is divisible into two parts. The southeastern 

 part, the Blackjack Prairie Area, is characterized by the presence 

 of woods on some hilltops. The remainder of the area has almost 

 no woody cover on the uplands and is designated as the Bluestem 

 Hills Area. To the east and west of these areas the percentage 

 of the total farmland that is in native grass becomes progressively 

 less with increasing distance. Some areas, extending to the eastern 

 and western borders of the principal range of the greater prairie 



[14] 



