Vol. 9, No. 1! 
Page 4 
birds, 21 of these being hens, assuming a 1:1 sex ratio. If all the adults survived 
to November, the fall population would consist of 272 juveniles and 42 adults. 
Thus, each adult hen would have produced an average of 13 chicks that survived to 
November. Production of this magnitude is difficult to explain under the present 
concepts of reproductive capacities of bobwhites. 
Table 3* Results of prehunt censuses (using 
Forbes and Dale areas, 1 963 - 66 . 
dogs) of quai1 
populations 
on the 
1963 
1964 
1965 
1966 
DALE 
Prehunt Estimate 
297 
286 
203 
327 
Quai1 per 100 Acres 
40. 1 
26.9 
18.5 
29.7 
Percent Summer Gain 
- 
522 
OO 
cr\ 
567 
FORBES 
Prehunt Estimate 
349 
268 
206 
314 
Quai1 per 100 Acres 
23.2 
12.2 
9-4 
14.2 
Percent Summer Gain 
- 
129 
178 
648 
5* Responses of Prai rie Chickens to Hab i tat Manipulation R. L. Westemeier 
The cover types associated with 24 observations of prairie chicken broods were 
recorded during the summer of 1966 on the Bogota Study Area. Cover types associated 
with the 24 observations were grouped into three categories to gain insight into 
the types of habitat selected by broods (Table 4). 
Cover type in which brood was first seen -- Redtop seed meadows, an important 
type of nesting cover for prairie chickens, accounted for 21 percent of these 
observations. Soybean fields and roadside grass - forbs each ranked second (17 
percent each). 
Nearest different cover type -- Soybeans ranked first (52 percent of 23 
observations of broods) and redtop seed meadows and wheat stubble - legume fields 
each ranked second (13 percent each). 
Cover type to which brood moved -- These cover types were known for l8 of the 
24 observations. Soybeans ranked first (28 percent), wheat stubble - legumes ranked 
second (22 percent), and redtop seed meadows and undisturbed timothy each ranked 
third (11 percent each). 
Even though soybean acreage is nearly twice as great (40 percent of the total 
land area in 1965) as corn acreage on the study area, corn is one cover type 
noticeably absent from Table 4. The edges of soybean fields, when adjacent to grass, 
legumes, or small grain stubble, provide situations which are apparently important 
to broods -- perhaps for dusting, for drying off in wet weather, and for insect 
availability. The prairie chicken sanctuaries at Bogota are needed primarily for 
provision Gf nesting cover, but several narrow strips of soybeans, designed as 
firelanes, might be attractive to hens with broods. 
