Vol. 9, No. 10 
Page 2 
74 additional roadside segments (unmanaged control plots) were searched each of 
the last three summers; in 1963 only 42 of the 74 plots were searched. These 
unmanaged control plots consisted of 32 , ^-mile roadside segments picked at random 
from that portion of the study area removed from the locale of the seeded and 
adjacent managed control plots, and 42, 1/8-mi1e segments which are parts of the 
plots searched each summer in conjunction with pheasant population and land-use 
studies. No attempts were made to control the management of these roadsides by 
farm operators, and from two-thirds to three-fourths of the plots were mowed one 
or more times during the nesting seasons. 
Pheasant nest densities on seeded plots substantially exceeded the densities 
on unmanaged control plots each of the 4 years (Table 2). The difference ranged 
from 1.0 nest per acre more on seeded plots in 1965 to 2.1 nests per acre more 
in 1964. Over the 4-year period, nest densities on seeded plots were twice those 
on unmanaged control plots. Mowing was probably the most important single factor 
contributing to this difference in densities. Early mowing of a roadside (mid- 
May) eliminates it as pheasant nesting cover for that portion of the spring when 
most nests are started. Because seeded roadsides go unmowed, they not only 
attract pheasants during the peak of nesting, but are available for late renesting 
attempts as well. 
The data also appear to indicate that seeded roadsides are more attractive 
to nesting pheasants than the unmowed managed control roadsides, but the close 
proximity of these two types of plots to each other could cause some interaction 
to take place, thus affecting nest densities on one or both types of roadsides. 
Table I. Acreage of roadsides searched for pheasant nests, numbers of nests and 
of nests per acre on seeded, managed control, and unmanaged control roadside 
plots, Sibley Study Area, 1963-66. 
T reatment 
Seeded 
Managed Control 
Unmanaged Control 
Acres 
1963 
15.5 
14.9 
17.7 
1964 
17.7 
17.4 
34.0 
1965 
19.6 
19.3 
33.4 
1966 
22.2 
22.0 
33.0 
1983-66 
75-0 
73-6 
118.1 
Number of Nests 
1963 
44 
41 
26 
1964 
68 
38 
57 
1965 
52 
33 
54 
1966 
65 
38 
42 
1963-66 
229 
150 
179 
Number of Nests 
per Acre 
1963 
2.8 
2.8 
1.5 
1964 
3-8 
2.2 
1 • 7 
1965 
2.6 
1.7 
1.6 
1 966 
2.9 
1.7 
1963-66 
3.0 
2.0 
1 • 5 
* Includes adjacent fencerows where present. 
