MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Illinois Federal Aid Project W-66-R 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, 
Glen C. Sanderson, Editor 
NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY 
DEC 15 1976 
library 
Cooperating 
Urbana, Illinois 
October, 1976 
Vol. 19, No. 10 
Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat R. E. Warner 
The number of pheasants harvested during the 13-14 November opening weekend 
of the I 976 hunting season is expected to be down from the numbers killed by 
hunters on the Sibley Study Area (SSA) and Ford County Management Unit (FCMU) in 
1975. Broods observed in August along transect routes on both areas of study 
and densities of hatched nests determined for the FCMU reveal a substantial 
decline from the level of nesting success noted in 1975 (MWRL 19(9):!)• 
Although the number of cock pheasants harvested during the opening weekend 
in 1976 is expected to be less than one year ago, the average hunter may ex¬ 
perience greater opportunity to kill a bird in 197b than in 1975 * In comparison 
to this fall, corn harvest and subsequent plowing was more advanced in 1975 
(approximately 25 percent of the corn was harvested on the study areas by 14 
October 1976, compared with 50 percent harvested by 14 October 1975)* The 
advanced harvest and plowing activities in 1975 concentrated birds on the few 
farms where permanent cover existed. Thus, a high percentage of pheasants was 
available to only a relatively small proportion of hunters. This fall the 
phenology of corn harvest and plowing is behind that of 1975 , and pheasants 
may therefore be less concentrated in permanent cover, which will result in a 
greater proportion of hunters encountering pheasants on the farms they hunt 
during the opening weekend. 
Ecology and Manageme nt of Sguirrels C. M. Nixon, 
S. P. Havera 
Various mammalogists believe that two subspecies of gray squirrels occur 
in Illinois. The southern gray squirrel ( Sciurus carolinensis carolinensis ) 
occurs throughout the southern and southeastern portion of the United States. 
This southern subspecies is believed to occur in central and southern Illinois. 
The northern gray squirrel (S. c. pennsylvanicus ) occurs throughout the northern 
and northeastern portion of the United States. The northern subspecies supposedly 
occurs in the northern half of Illinois. The northern subspecies of the gray 
squirrel is larger than the southern subspecies, and it has a greater tendency 
to be partially or completely me 1 aniStic. 
We wanted to determine (1) if two different subspecies of gray squirrels 
occur in Illinois and (2) if there are two subspecies, where does each occur 
within the state. We are particularly concerned with the northern third of 
