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OIaJ 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, 111 inois 
August, 1964 
Vol . 7, No. 8 
I. Pheasant Populations and Land Use J. E. Warnock, S. L. Etter 
The standardized counts of pheasant broods made on the Sibley Study Area 
during July and August, 1964, revealed 23 percent fewer broods than were recorded 
in I 963 and 36 percent fewer broods than were recorded in 1 96 2- One hundred 
fifty-nine broods were observed along 640 miles of roadside transect (two 40-mile 
routes were driven weekly), compared with 207 broods in 1963- Comparable counts 
were 249, 285 , 235, 198, 240, and 194 broods in 1962 , 1961 , i 960 , 1959, 1958 , and 
1957 , respectively. 
Apparently, a greater amount of successful late nesting occurred in 1964 than 
in 1963: in 1964, 41 of 132 broods observed along the last 320 miles of transect 
were 3 weeks of age or younger, compared with 14 of 143 broods observed during the 
same distance and period in 1963 - 
The number of adult pheasant hens observed during July and August along these 
same 640 miles of roadside decreased from 461 hens in 196 3 to 392 hens in 1964, or 
15 percent. Sixty-one percent of the adult hens observed in both 1963 and 1964 
were broodless. 
2. Manipulat ion of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
In 1964, 68 pheasant nests were located in the 15 acres of seeded roadsides 
on the Sibley Study Area, compared with 44 in 1963, an increase of 54.5 percent; 
the number of established nests in the 15 acres of control roadside plots de¬ 
creased 7• 3 percent between the 2 years, from 41 nests in 1963 to 38 nests in 1964 
(Table 1). Of the 68 nests established on seeded plots in 1964, 14 (20.6 percent) 
were successful, compared with 5 ( 13-2 percent) among the 38 nests established on 
control plots. In 1 963 , 38.6 percent (17 of 44) of the nests established on 
seeded plots were successful, compared with 17-1 percent (7 of 41) of the nests 
established on control plots. The number of successful nests per acre on seeded 
plots decreased from 1.1 in 1963 to 0.8 in 1964, a decrease of 27-3 percent; 
successful nests per acre on control plots decreased from 0.5 nest per acre in 
1963 to 0.3 nest per acre in 1964 (40.0 percent). Thus, although total successful 
nest production decreased on seeded plots in 1964, it exceeded the production on 
control plots by 1.8 times; in 1963, the number of successful nests on seeded 
plots exceeded the number on control plots by 1.4 times. 
bo.-ll/ SlitiV'cY 
SEP 8 1964 
