Vo 1. 6, No. 9 
Page 2 
Monthly Report -- September, 1963 
3* Factors Inf 1uencinq Pistribution and Abundance of Pheasants 
W. L. Anderson, S. L. Wunderle 
Rural mail carriers reported an average of 7*7 pheasants per 100 miles of 
driving in the 74 northern-most counties of Illinois in April, 1958, and 9*9 pheas¬ 
ants per 100 miles of driving in the 75 northern-most counties of Illinois in 
April, 1963* In both censuses, pheasants were most abundant in Livingston County 
of east-central Illinois, where 56.4 and 99*1 pheasants were observed per 100 miles 
of driving in April of 1958 and 1963 , respectively. The 10 counties from which 
pheasants were most abundant in 1963 were Livingston, Ford, Iroquois, McLean, 
Champaign, Piatt, Woodford, Kankakee, Putnam, and Grundy, respectively; all of 
these counties showed increases in numbers of pheasants between 1958 and 1963* 
Nearly 68 percent of all pheasants reported from the 75 counties during the April, 
1963> census were observed in Livingston, Ford, Iroquois, McLean, and Champaign 
counties. The most notable increases in abundance of pheasants between 1958 and 
1963 occurred in the contiguous counties of DeWitt, Piatt, Moultrie, Macon, and 
Douglas, which are located south-southwest of the center of pheasant abundance in 
Livingston and Ford counties. 
Decreases in numbers of pheasants were most significant in the northern and 
northwestern counties of Illinois during the past 5 years. Notable decreases in 
abundance occurred in Stephenson, JoDaviess, Boone, McHenry, DeKalb, Lee, Kane, 
and Kendall counties; less than 1 pheasant per 100 miles was reported from several 
of these counties in April, 1963* The abundance of pheasants in counties along the 
extreme southern boundary of the range of pheasants in Illinois declined or re¬ 
mained unchanged. 
Thus, although the total abundance of pheasants in Illinois increased about 25 
percent between 1958 and 1963* proportionate increases did not occur range-wide. 
Pheasants increased in numbers in the already top-ranked pheasant counties of east- 
central Illinois and in counties immediately southward, whereas pheasants decreased 
in most counties in northern and northwestern Illinois. Pheasants have never be¬ 
come established in the west-central and southern counties of Illinois. In 1 963 ^ 
a greater abundance of pheasants was restricted to a smaller portion of the state 
than in 1958. 
4. Prairie Chicken and Quail J. A. Ellis and R. J. Ellis 
Nineteen quail nests, of which 10 (52 percent) hatched, were located on the 
16-square mile Bogota study area during the 1963 breeding season. Of the 19 nests, 
8 were found along roadsides, 5 in hayfields, 4 in idle grass fields, and 2 in 
fence rows. The mean number of eggs from 13 incubated clutches was 12.0. Quail 
chicks were hatched on the area from June 18 to September 20 with the mid-point of 
hatching occurring the last week of June. 
Subsequent recaptures of 15 individual cock quails, originally captured and 
marked on the Bogota area during June and July, 1963; revealed summer movements 
that varied from 0.2 mile to 3*1 miles for different individual cocks; the mean 
movement for the 15 cocks during summer was 1.0 mile. Quail movements of this 
magnitude were probably a reflection of the prairie habitat that occupied most 
of the area. 
