Vol. 19, No. 9 
Page 5 
The number of fertile eggs per clutch increased from 9*7 to 10.9 and the 
number of hatched eggs per clutch increased for the second year from 9*6 to 
10.5* However, these slight gains can not begin to offset the effects of fewer 
nests and a low rate of nest success. As noted in MWRL 18(9):4, it appears that 
success of the hatch must be about 50 percent to maintain a stable population. 
The continued high rate of nest predation in 1976, therefore, portends another 
decline in the population level of prairie chickens at Bogota for the spring of 
1977- 
