Vol. 5, No. 8 
Page 2 
The manipulated plots may have "attracted" broods because (l) the oats nurse 
crop and grass-legume seedings in the manipulated plots provided cover more dense 
than in the unmanipulated plots, and (2) the seedings also attracted large popula¬ 
tions of insects which probably provided abundant food. 
3* Factors Inf 1uencin q Pist ribut ion and Abundance of Pheasants 
W. L. Anderson, J. A. Harper 
The average number of eggs per incubated clutch and the average number of 
eggs hatched per successful nest recorded from pheasant nests found on the Neoga 
area in I960, 1961, and 1962 (Table 2), are comparable to incubated and hatched 
clutches reported from within the established pheasant range. These data do not 
preclude that reproduction is not limiting the establishment of pheasants in un¬ 
occupied range, but rather that the production of chicks is adequate among that seg¬ 
ment of the hen population that is known to nest. However, an average of 62 per 
cent of the hens observed during the summers were accompanied by broods, which indi¬ 
cates that an adequate segment of the hen population produced chicks. It is also 
noteworthy that the pen-reared birds ("California" and Japanese green pheasants) 
laid smaller clutches than the wild-reared birds (wild-trapped and "native" pheas¬ 
ants). 
Table 2. --The average number o f eggs per incubated clutch and the average 
number of eggs hatched per successful nest on the Neoga study area, I960, 1961, and 
1962. Sample sizes (number of nests) in parentheses. 
Years 
Mean 
Number + 
Standard 
Error of eggs 
per incuba¬ 
ted clutch 
Origin of Hens 
"California" 
Japanese green 
Wi1d-trapped 
"Native" 
Undetermined 
All hens 
I960 
10.5±.5(2) 
10.9+.5(16) 
10 . 2 +. 3 ( 18 ) 
10 .6+. 3 ( 36 ) 
9.4±.7(8) 
1961 
8.0 ( 1 ) 
11 • 5+• 3(4) 
10 . 2 + 1 . 1 ( 6 ) 
9.8+.4(6) 
10.2+.4(17) 
9.5+.5(4) 
1962 
7.0 ( 1 ) 
6.0 (l) 
a* « « 
11 . 5 + 1 . 6 ( 6 ) 
9-4+1.0(12) 
10 . 8 +. 8 ( 20 ) 
9.4+1.0(12) 
All Years 
• 9-0+.9(4) 
6.0 ( 1 ) 
11•l+.4(20) 
10.9+.9(12) 
10.4+.4(36) 
10.5+.3(73) 
9*4+.5(24) 
Mean number + standard 
error of eggs that hatched 
per successful nest 
4. Rabb it Management W. R. Edwards, D. A. Casteel 
The observation phase of the study of cottontail reproductive behavior was 
discontinued during the latter part of the month when bucks became sexually in¬ 
active. Results of this summer's work were largely inconclusive as a result of the 
late initiation of field work and the difficulty experienced in attempting to obtain 
suitable numbers of does of reproductive age that were not pregnant. Losses of 
study animals to avian predation further limited study. Present plans call for fu¬ 
ture work on this study to be conducted in the Urbana area and for experimental an- 
mals to be collected prior to the 1 963 rabbit reproductive season* 
