Vol. 8, No. 11 
Page 2 
that year (15 of 44 nests) had been preyed upon by mammals. In I 965 , 7' percent 
of the nests found in hayfields (15 of 21 nests) showed mammal predation, compared 
with 46 percent (24 of 52 nests) on seeded roadsides. No unharvested hay was 
searched in 1964. 
On the basis of these samples, tests indicated no significant difference in 
the rates of mammal destruction between nests located in havfields and those on 
seeded roadsides in 1 963 (X? = 0.8; X?lo = 2.70 or *965 (Xf = 1.4; X^jq = 2.71). 
It can therefore be concluded that data collected to date fail to reveal any 
significant difference between mammal destruction of pheasant nests on seeded road¬ 
sides and in unharvested hayfields. If differences did exist, they were not of 
sufficient magnitude to be apparent in the available data. 
3. Factors Inf1uencinq Pistribution and Abundance of Pheasants W. L. Anderson 
The prehunt (October 1 965 ) population of pheasants on the experimental release 
area at Neoga was estimated to be 185 birds as compared with 126 in 1964. These 
estimates were obtained by interviewing local farmers each year during early 
November. This estimate of the I 965 prehunt population suggests that the number 
of pheasants at Neoga increased 47 percent from October 1964 to the se ie month in 
1965 (Table 1) and is in general agreement with the increase noted in the population 
last spring and last summer. We now feel confident that the population at Neoga 
is larger than a year ago, even though no additional stock has been released since 
March 1 963 . 
Table 1. Estimated numbers of pheasants on the experimental release area at Neoga, 
Illinois, during October, i 960 through 1 965 • 
Year 
Number of Pheasants 
Technique Used 
i960 
704 
Linco1n 
1 ndex 
1961 
649 
1 1 
1 1 
1962 
527 
1 1 
t l 
1963 
232 
1 1 
1 1 
1964 
126 
Farmer 
1nterviews 
1965 
185 
1 1 
1 1 
4. Responses of Bobwhi tes to Hab i tat Mani pu 1 at i on 
J. A. Ellis, R. L. Westemeier 
Prehunt censuses of qua 1 1 coveys, conducted from October 26 to November II, 
1965, revealed moderate to severe declines in the populations on the three study 
areas. Totals of 206, 203, and 125 quail were counted on the Forbes, Dale, and 
Alma areas (Table 2), respectively, and represented declines of 23 percent, 29 
