5^ MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
T. G. Scott and Wendy Patton, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
September, 1962 
Vol. 5, No. 9 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use J. E. Warnock, G. B. Joselyn 
Pheasant nesting and its relation to pheasant abundance and land use on the 
intensively cultivated Sibley area was investigated again in 1962. The 100 randomly 
selected 10-acre study plots (representing a 4.3 per cent sample of the 23,200 acre 
study area) were searched for nests. In 1962, 470 nests were located and 103 (21.9 
per cent) of these nests hatched. The number of nests (470) located in 1962 repre¬ 
sents the greatest number of established nests found during the past 6 years on the 
1,000 acres sampled (Table 1), but the number of hatched nests (103) reported in 
1962 was 6.4 per cent below the record number of hatched nests (110) found in 1961. 
Table 1. —Densities of established and hatched pheasant nests, Sibley study 
area, 1957-1962. 
Year 
Densities; Nests per 
100 Acres of Land Area 
Nests Established 
Nests Hatched 
1957 
12.4 
4.2 
1958 
26.6 
7.9 
1959 
23.6 
5.6 
1960 
28.0 
8.5 
1961 
43.7 
11.0 
1962 
47.0 
10.3 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat D. E. Newman 
Thirty-seven per cent of 38 pheasant nests found along roadsides during the 
1962 nesting season hatched, whereas 26 per cent of the nests were abandoned and 
37 per cent were abandoned and/or destroyed. The average number of eggs in hatched 
nests was 10; the average number of chicks hatched per nest was 8.6. 
Nest densities along ecologically older roadsides (5g- miles of roadway) 
averaged 6.7 per mile. Less than one nest per mile was established along recently 
graded roadsides (l^r miles of roadway). 
OCT 11 1962 
NATURAL 
HISTORY SURVEY 
i IRRARY 
