MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois July, 1966 Vol. 9, No. 7 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use W. J. Francis, S. L. Etter 
The density of pheasant nests on the Sibley Study Area varies widely among 
different cover types, as shown by annual nesting studies (Job Completion Report, 
Project W-66-R-5, Job No. 2, dated July 15, 19&5)* As many as 3-43 nests per acre 
have been found in unharvested hay, and as few as 0.28 nest per acre in small-grain 
fields. As a first step in determining quantitative differences in environmental 
factors, 129 temperature and humidity measurements were made at a height of 10 cm 
in a wide variety of cover types during June and July, I 966 . The temperature and 
humidity were also measured at a height of 1 meter on the adjacent roadsides, at 
approximately the same time, to serve as reference levels to which the measurements 
within the vegetative cover could be referred. 
Cover types were divided into the following classes: 
Hayfields -- legumes, chiefly alfalfa and red clover. 
Brome - A 1 fa 1 fa -- experimental plots and roadside strips with these 
species predominant. 
Str ip Cover -- Roadsides, fencerows, drainage ditches, etc., excluding 
brome - alfalfa and grasses. 
Grasses -- Pastures and roadsides predominantly of bluegrass or uncultivated 
grasses other than brome. 
Small Grains -- Oats and wheat. 
Row Crops -- Corn and soybeans. 
Although there were considerable day-to-day variations, in all cover types, 
in the departures of the temperature and humidity values within the cover from the 
reference values at 1 meter, the means showed consistent differences among cover 
types (Table 1). 
Table 1. Mean temperature and relative humidity at a height of 10 cm within 
vegetative cover, in relation to corresponding air temperature and relative 
humidity at a height of 1 meter on the adjacent road edge. 
Cover Type 
Temperature* 
(deg. F) 
Relative Humidity* 
(percent) 
HayfieIds 
+1.3 t 0.6 
+8.5 ± 2.5 
Brome - A 1 fa 1 fa 
+ 1.9 + 1.0 
+7.5 t 3.0 
Strip Cover 
+ 1.0 ± 0.8 
+7-9 t 2.4 
Grasses 
+4.9 + 1.1 
+2.7 t 1.4 
Smal1 Grains 
+ 0.9 ± 1.0 
+8.8 + 3-7 
Row Crops 
+3-0 t 0.8 
+0.6 ± l.0 
* Mean values - 1 standard error of the mean. 
