Vol. 20, No. 9 
Page 5 
coinpa ra t! ve “n umbe r s ' and * s ucce s f raUeS the 0 -tion 
chicken sanctuaries (Table 5 ) i n IQ77 tW ° Spec,es on the prairie 
quail on the sanctuar ies — 77.3 percent^f ift access was high for bobwhite 
none of the four pheasant nest? fr, a . nests were hatched. However, 
(which is fortunate in this case-see HWRL ?9(?2)*3-£j? S successful 
prairie chickens war'the^owesWsrT' 0 '' ° f l973 " 76 ’ when nest success for 
predation. It is not surpristna'tha Successfu| ) »" record, due to 
low during the same 4-year period (22 2 to *c C 7 SSS f ° r qU3 ' 1 W3S corres Ponding|y 
of pheasant nests, however, was^elatiL ? J'l ? ercent Successful ). Success 
period of 1973-76. Overall, nest success Y for 9 Lth X Q eP - 1 ^ a during the 
the sanctuaries is relatively hinh ° j both quail and pheasants on 
the literature and wt h unpiblV hed'data^ ^ SUCC6SS rateS reported in 
20(5) :2 and 20(6) : 2). P data on pheasants by R. E. Warner (MWRL 
The most curious and worrisome aqnprt _$ .1 
in Jasper County in I 977 i s the relatively in ? est ^ earcb ? n the sanctuaries 
found. The acreage searched (about 4001 Lc *'. n V l ] lber of P rair, ’ e chicken nests 
previous years. The population lo^i s similar to that searched in 
1976, 75 cocks in 1 377 ) and the numberiTof °he grea *j ,y dl ^similar (81 cocks in 
booming grounds in 1976 and 1977 wer e essential i 3 "! 00 ^l at,ons observed on 
24 prairie chicken nests in 1977 i s not Quite L ! same * Yet ' our sam Pl e of 
U/7 is not quite half of the sample found in 1976 . 
at Bogou'^ufd^ifnketyTive 0 ^; 3 ;;^ 6 h^" in ' 977 ' " est 
found on the Yeatter Sanctuary A den in the 9 er ex ^ ept for a family of mink 
occupied by skunk in ]cnl 7,2 a the ? entral portion of this tract, 
likely caused the destruction of (iT’si'x^ mml< i "- 1 ? 77 ’ ,n June ,g 77, mink 
all of three pheasant ne^ pluVtwo en ki !sl (2) 
nests (plus one hen kill) on the Yeatter cl ! ' and (3) one of two quail 
resulted in the capture of three Inktuary. Trapping at the den site 
250 yards from the den, and a fifth mink carcass was found about 
nearby Field Sanctuary e p ee : a \ k " led by ! he nest cre " on the 
the prairie environment, and because m nL, r WaS „ Sur P r ' 5in 9 because of (I) 
typically considered to be opossum, skunk, and^accoon? °" SanCtuaries are 
r;.:; — r> - • ««•».... 
P ra i r i e 
Chicken 
Year 
Numbe r 
Percent 
of Nests 
Successful 
1963 
9 
100.0 
1964 
17 
58.8 
1965 
4 
66 .7 
Bobwhite 
Number 
of Nests 
5 
4 
0 
Percent 
Successful 
80.0 
50.0 
Ring-necked Pheasant 
Number Percent 
of Nests Successful 
0 
0 
0 
