MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
T. G. Scott, Editor 
Urbana, Illinois 
January, 1961 
Vol. 4, No. 1 
W-30-R-14 R. F. Labisky, R. I. Smith 
Studies of nesting ecology of pheasants on the Sibley area have demon¬ 
strated an important relationship between reproduction and land-use changes during 
the past 3 years. Approximately 44 per cent of the 23,000-acre study area is 
estate-owned and tenant-farmed, and management of this land is under the super¬ 
vision of three farm managers or agencies. The remainder of the area is privately 
owned and subject to various management programs. Acreages of corn and soybeans 
on estate land have increased from 54 per cent of the total land area in 1958 to 
76 per cent in I960. During the same period, acreages of hay and small grains 
have declined from 29 per cent to 10 per cent of the land area. Corresponding 
increases in row crops and decreases in hay and small grain have not occurred on 
private lands. 
Densities of hatched nests per hundred acres of estate land have decreased 
from 15.5 in 1958 to 7.8 in I960. On non-estate land the density of hatched nests 
has increased from 2.8 to 9.0 per hundred acres. The impact of changing land-use 
on reproduction of pheasants is even more striking when one considers that estate 
lands yielded 454 per cent more hatched nests per unit of land area than did 
private lands in 1958, but that private lands yielded 15 per cent more hatched 
nests per unit land area than did estate lands in I960. If the trend toward 
larger acreages of corn and soybean continues on estate land and becomes a part 
of non-estate management as well, the effect on pheasant populations in future years 
could be adverse. 
W-42-R-10 R. D. Lord, Jr. 
During the months of December and January, a roadside survey was made of 
the relative distribution and abundance of rabbits on an area in east central 
Illinois. The purpose of the survey was to determine if a suspected relationship 
between rabbit abundance and glacial moraines had any basis in fact. The area 
covered most of Champaign County and extended into Iroquois, Ford, McLean, Piatt, 
and Douglas Counties, an area of 1,326 square miles. All east-west and north- 
south roads were driven at about 35 ra.p.h. from about 7:00 p.m. to midnight 
whenever weather permitted. A total of 2,158 miles were driven which is 84 
per cent of complete coverage (if every section line had a road). A total of 
639 rabbits were seen which is an average of 0.296 rabbits per mile. 
