Vol. 6, No. 6 
Page 3 
Table 3» Status of nests on manipulated and control roadside plots along 7 
miles of roadway, Sibley area, June 30, 1963* 
Number of Nests 
Nests 
Seeded Plots Control Plots 
Active l 
Hatched 9 (33)* 
Abandoned and/or Destroyed 17 
Total 27 
^Percentage of total nests that have hatched. 
3. Factors Influencing Distribution and Abundance of Pheasants 
W. L. Anderson and S. 1. Wunderle 
The population of breeding pheasants on the Neoga area in I 963 has been tenta¬ 
tively estimated at 320 birds (9** cocks and 226 hens). The population of hens was 
determined by multiplying the number of hens per cock (2.4) by the number of ter¬ 
ritorial cocks (94), previously located by a combination of visual observations 
and audio triangulation. The ratio of hens per cock was based on the average of 
the maximum number of hens observed in 28 individually located harems. As in pre¬ 
vious years, the percentage survival of native hens from the prehunt period (Octo¬ 
ber) to the following breeding season (May) appeared insufficient to insure con¬ 
tinuation of the population. Table 4. The Korean hens survived in greater propor¬ 
tionate numbers than did hens of any of the other strains of game-farm reared birds 
released on the area in previous years. These findings, plus other limited data, 
suggest that Korean pheasants might contribute traits to the population that will 
greatly enhance the chances of developing a strain adaptable to the environmental 
conditions of south-central Illinois. 
Table 4. Survival of pheasants from the winter of 1962-63, or from time of re¬ 
lease, to May, 1 963 > Neoga study area. The number of pheasants of each strain in 
May was based on the ratio among different strains observed between April 16 and 
June 15> I963» Percentages of survival are in parentheses. 
1 
4 (14)* 
22 
27 
Strains of Pheasants 
Number of 
in Winter, 
Pheasants 
1962-63 
Number of Pheasants 
in May, I 963 
Cocks 
Hens 
Cocks 
Hens 
Native 
272 
319 
53 (19) 
95 ( 30 ) 
WiId-111inois (Champaign County) 
0 
88 
• • • • 
44 (50) 
Korean 
81 
127 
35 (43) 
76 (60) 
Japanese Green 
40 
24 
6 (15) 
7 ( 29 ) 
All strains 
393 
558 
94 (24) 
222 (40) 
