MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Vol. 2, No. 2 
Page 3 
to tape for use in the Illiac computor. The data are now ready for calculation 
of correlation of pheasants and soi]3. 
County rural mail carrier pheasant counts were compared with land use. 
Land-use data for the year 19 !j 9 were compared with the rural mail carrier data 
for April, 1957 and April 1958; evidence from 19U9 kill reports mapped by 
Robertson (1958) indicates that the pheasant distribution was essentially the 
same in 19l;9 as in 1957-1958. Table 1 shows the relationship of pheasants to 
woodland and cropland. These two land-use factors, as well as others appear 
to be interrelated with the distribution of soils. 
Table 1.—County pheasant indices classified by land use. 
Per Cent in 
Woodland, 19U9 
0-3 
k-7 
8-11 
12-15 16-19 
20-28 
Pheasants/lOO Miles 
15.3 
5.8 
3.1 
JU.U 1.2 
0.0 
Per Cent in Cropland, 19 k9 
<50 
50-60 
60-70 
70-80 80-90 
Pheasants/lOO Miles 
1.3 
o.5 
2.1 
5.9 17.5 
The winter pheasant censuses were completed on the Neoga and Bellmont 
areas during February. Seven pheasants (3^Y:h.2<?) were observed on the 10k Li.0— 
acre plots that were searched at Neoga. This gave an estimate of 11 + 3.3 
pheasants for the area. At Bellmont, 15 pheasants (6d' , d':9??) were observed on 
52 IpD-acre plots that were searched. This produced an estimate of k9 + 21 
pheasants on the area. 
Population estimates from previous winter censuses at Neoga and Bell¬ 
mont are shown in the table below. It appears that the Neoga population has 
been decreasing at an increasing rate during the past 3 years. At Bellmont, 
however, the estimated population was 52 per cent greater in 1959 than 1958. 
This may have resulted from a better distribution of the census plots this year 
rather than an increase in the population. The census plots were not stratified 
in the 1958 census while the 1959 census plots were stratified according to the 
location of broods found on the area during the 1958 breeding season. 
Estimated pheasant populations obtained from winter censuses. 
Year : 
Neopa 
Bellmont 
— Mean 
Population 
Estimate 
Per Cent 
Change from 
Previous Year 
Mean 
Population 
Estimate 
Per Cent" 
Change from 
Previous Year 
1957 
287 
1958 
9k 
-67 
32 
1959 
11 
-88 
k9 
+53 
