MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
June, 1964 
Vol. 7, No. 6 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use J. E. Warnock, S. L. Etter 
Stanley L. Etter joined the staff on June 8 as assistant project leader. 
Stan received his Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from the University of 
Illinois in February 1 96 1, and his Master of Science degree in zoology from Illi¬ 
nois in August 1963- He conducted graduate research on age determination and 
growth of prairie chickens. 
Indications are that the production of pheasant chicks on the Sibley Study 
Area will be much lower in 1964 than in 1963 unless a remarkable late-season 
hatch occurs. The smaller acreage of hay on the area in 1964 as compared with 
I 963 , and the poor quality of vegetative cover for nesting (a result of the dry 
weather), are probably directly affecting the rate of nest establishment and 
success. These environmental factors, in conjunction with population density, 
are probably indirectly affecting nesting success through sociopsychological 
and physiological mechanisms. 
2. Manipu1 at ion of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
The first search for pheasant nests on manipulated and on control plots along 
7 miles of roadway on the Sibley Study Area was started on June 10 and completed 
on June 17- Eighty-five pheasant nests were located on the plots, 52 (3*25 
nests per acre) on seeded plots and 33 (2.1 nests per acre) on control plots, 
compared with 85 nests (44 on seeded plots and 41 on control plots) located in 
three searches of the roadsides during 1963- As of June 26, 1964, four of the 
nests established on seeded plots had hatched, and five hens were still incubating 
on the control plots, one nest had hatched and three hens were still incubating 
(Table 1). By June 30, 1963, nine of the nests established on seeded plots had 
hatched and one hen was still incubating, compared with four hatched nests and 
one incubating hen on control plots. In I 963 data on the nesting of pheasants 
on roadside plots and the corresponding 1964 data collected thus far are not 
strictly comparable, since the first search in 1 96 3 was completed on June 5 
whereas the first search in 1964 was completed on June 17- The second and final 
search of the roadside plots this summer will be conducted in mid-July. 
NATiinAL HISTORY SURVEY 
JUL 7 1964 
tISRASV 
