2. Manipu1 at ion of Pheasant Habitat 
Vol . 7, No. 5 
Page 2 
G. B. Joselyn 
In addition to existing seeded and control roadside plots, approximately 8 
miles (16 acres) of roadsides will be searched for pheasant nests during the summer 
of 1964. Thirty-two 27 -mile plots were randomly selected from that portion of the 
Sibley Study Area which lies more than 1 mile from existing seeded and control 
plots. The purpose of the search is to compare pheasant production on the 32 newly 
established control plots with that on seeded and existing adjacent control plots. 
Because the existing control plots are in close proximity to the seeded plots 
and both are managed to exclude mowing, these plots may not be typical of unmanaged 
roadside areas on the study area. By searching the additional 8 miles of control 
plots distant from the seeded area and by making no attempt to control the manage¬ 
ment (mowing) of these plots, we hope to obtain data regarding pheasant production 
on "typical" study-area roadsides. 
The additional sample will include 12, 77 -mile plots (37-5 percent) along gravel 
roads; 7 > 5 -mile plots ( 21.9 percent) along township blacktop roads; 8 , 27 -mile plots 
(25.0 percent) along state highways; and 5, 27 -mile plots ( 15-6 percent) along dirt 
roads. 
3. Factors Inf1uenc?nq Distribution and A bundance of Pheasants 
W. L. Anderson, S. L. Wunderle 
Thirty-one individual cocks were observed on 14 sections of the Bellmont Study 
Area during May 1964: 19 Iowa cocks, 3 Korean cocks, and 9 native cocks. Seventy- 
one Iowa cocks and 50 Korean cocks were released on the area during March. The 
native cocks were hatched and reared on the area during 1963 and were a cross be¬ 
tween the wild cocks from the established range and California game-farm hens. The 
19 Iowa cocks had an average of 1.1 hens per harem, the 9 native cocks 6.0 hens per 
harem, and 3 Korean cocks 1.0 hen per harem. The 31 cocks observed on the area had 
an average of 2.5 hens per harem. 
4. Responses of Bobwhites and Prairie Chickens to Habitat Manipu1 ation 
J. A. Ellis, R. J. Ellis, R. L. Westemeier 
The number of prairie chickens in southern Illinois probably is proportional 
to the idle acreage of grass. There are two reasons for this conclusion: (1) 
during a search of 850.7 acres of potential nesting cover on the Bogota Study Area 
in 1963, 9 of the 11 nests found were in 13^-5 idle acres of grass; (2) while 
censusing prairie chickens on booming grounds on 11 areas in south-central Illinois 
during 1964, a density of one or more booming cocks per square mile was recorded 
only where there were approximately 100 (or more) idle acres of grass. 
Most idle fields of grass in south-central Illinois are signed under the 
Federal Conservation Reserve Program. A few are signed under the Federal Feed Grain 
Program. Idle fields of grass not federally subsidized are practically nonexistent. 
Unfortunately, conservation reserve contracts are expiring rapidly and no new ones 
are being made (Table 2). When these contracts expire, affected fields are farmed 
or grazed for economic reasons. Acreage idled by federal feed grain agreements 
varies little from year to year. However, compared with fields in the conservation 
reserve program, those in the feed grain program furnish poor nesting cover for 
prairie chickens because they are usually planted to legumes rather than the much 
preferred grass. Also, the cover on these fields is usually maintained for only 1 
or 2 years. Consequently, the layer of dead vegetation needed by nesting prairie 
chickens does not accumulate. 
