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MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson, Editor 
Urbana, 111 inois 
September, 1963 
Vo 1. 6, No. 9 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use J. E. Warnock 
Studies of the nesting ecology of pheasants on the intensively cultivated 
Sibley area in 19&3 indicated a "moderate" decline in the production of young pheas¬ 
ants from 1962. In 1963* as ' n the previous 6 years, 1957*62, nesting data were 
collected by searching 100 randomly selected 10-acre plots, representing a 4.3 
percent sample of the 23,200-acre study area, for pheasant nests. In 1963 , ^53 
nests were located and 81 (17*9 percent) of these hatched. These data reveal a 
3-6 percent decrease from the number of nests established (470) and a 21.4 percent 
decrease from the number of nests hatched (103) during 1962. The decrease in num¬ 
ber of successful nests and the 16.9 percent decrease in number of broods observed 
during July and August, 1963 (see Monthly Wildlife Research Letter, August, 1963), 
indicate that there were fewer young pheasants produced on the Sibley area during 
1963 than during 1962 . 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
* The number of successful pheasant nests per unit of area that occurred on seeded 
roadside plots equaled or exceeded the number which occurred in all other cover 
types on the Sibley study area during 1963, table 1. Roadside plots, seeded to 
tame grasses and legumes in 1962, produced 113 successful nests per 100 acres, 
the same number of hatched nests as produced per 100 acres of unharvested tame 
hay. Control or non-seeded, roadside plots produced 47 successful nests per 100 
acres of cover. Strip cover, harvested tame hay, and pastures produced 40, 16 and 
37 hatched nests per 100 acres, respectively. Small grains and non-agricu1tura1 
areas each produced less than 10 hatched nests per 100 acres. 
Table 1. Number of pheasant nests hatched per 100 acres of different cover types, 
Sibley study area, 1963* 
Cover 
Hatched Nests Per 100 Acres 
Seeded Roadside Plots 
H3 
Control Roadside Plots 
47 
Unharvested Tame Hay 
113 
Harvested Tame Hay 
16 
Strip Cover 
40 
Pastures 
37 
Sma11 G rains 
7 
Non-agricultural 
2 
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DEC 12 1963 
