V , 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
T. G. Scott and Wendy Patton, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
April, 1962 
Vol. 5, No. 4 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use J. E. War nock 
An improved transistor radio to facilitate studies of behavior and movement 
has been designed for attachment on wild pheasants. The radio was recently attached 
(by a backtag harness) to a pheasant confined in an enclosure, and the performance 
of the radio was evaluated for a few days. In order to explore the possibility of 
using radios in studying the nesting and renesting biology of the pheasant, two 
radios will be attached to wild pheasants on the Sibley area during Ilay. 
G. Blair Joselyn joined the staff as assistant project leader on April 16. Mr. 
Joselyn received his Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from Iowa State University 
in 1957 and his Master of Science degree in zoology from Southern Illinois University 
in 1961. His master's thesis was concerned with an evaluation of the economics of 
the Canada goose flock in southern Illinois. Mir. Joselyn served as conservation 
and wildlife management officer for the U. S. Army at Fort Riley, Kansas from July, 
1960 to April 1, 1962. 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat D. E. Newman 
The first phase of this project, designed to investigate the feasibility of 
establishing and maintaining roadside cover for nesting pheasants, began with the 
manipulation of roadsides along 5-g- miles of roadway on the Sibley area. Twenty, 
-l--mile plots along 5 miles of roadway and four, l/8-mile plots along -jr-mile of roadway 
were manipulated. These plots are located along black-top, gravel, and unimproved 
dirt roads. The manipulation process consists of plowing the roadside area, roto- 
tilling twice, and seeding to a grass-legume mixture with a nurse crop of oats. 
First, the oats were sowed and then harrowed to insure proper depth of planting. 
Next, the grass-legume mixture was sowed and harrowed at a shallower depth than the 
oats. All seedings were applied with a cyclone hand seeder. The oats were applied 
at the rate of 32 pounds per acre| the grass-legume mixture, consisting of alfalfa, 
red clover, brome grass, timothy, and orchard grass, was applied at the rate of 16 
pounds per acre. 
Soil samples were collected systematically from 20 roadside plots. Analyses of 
the samples showed that soil from roadsides within the sample area has favorable 
pH levels, medium to high amounts of phosphorus, and very high amounts of potassium. 
The project will include four, ^-mile treatments (totaling 1 mile) in each 
1-mile block. These treatments includes (1) planting on both sides of the road, 
(2) and (3) planting on alternate sides of the road, and (4) control (no planting). 
The treatments were randomized within each 1-mile block to facilitate the use of 
statistics in analyses of the data. 
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