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MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois June, 1967 Vol. 10, No. 6 
1* Pheasant Populations and Land Use S. L. Etter 
The chronology of the hatching of pheasant nests on the Sibley Study Area has 
been determined for each year since 1962 from the progress of the molt of the 
primary wing feathers of juvenile pheasants captured by nightIighting during 
October and early November. These data indicate that 65-3> 57*4, 45*5; 53*8 and 
64.3 percent of the chicks were hatched in May and June in 1962, 1963* 1964, 1965; 
and 1966, respectively. 
Comparisons of these data with the relative success of the nesting seasons 
during these years (See Monthly Wildlife Research Letters, August 1964 and 
September I 966 ) indicate that the highest percentage of May- and June-hatched 
chicks occurred in 1962, when production was highest relative to the number of 
breeding hens, and was lowest in 1964, when production relative to the breeding 
population was lowest. These findings suggest that the success of the nesting 
season is strongly influenced by the proportion of the hatch which occurs in May 
and June. 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
Several factors contribute to the willingness of farm operators to allow 
roadsides adjacent to their land to be seeded to grasses and legumes for nesting 
pheasants. These factors include an appearance compatible with the surrounding 
farmland, and few weeds. Another contributing factor could be whether insects 
destructive to adjacent field crops are attracted by the seedings, or, conversely, 
whether unmowed, seeded roadsides “hold" certain destructive insects out of 
adjacent fields, thus serving to reduce damage to crops over that which would occur 
where unseeded and mowed roadsides exist. 
Beginning in June of this year (I 967 ), entomologists of the Natural History 
Survey are making summer-long studies of insect populations on seeded, managed 
control, and unmanaged control roadside plots in an effort to detect any 
detrimental or beneficial effects of seeded roadside plots as regards damage to 
adjacent field crops. 
3. Factors Inf1uencinq Pistribut ion and Abundance of Pheasants W. L. Anderson 
It has been recognized for many years that thriving populations of pheasants 
in Illinois, as well as in other midwestern states, are confined to the most 
recently glaciated soils--soils covered by the Wisconsin ice sheet. This observa¬ 
tion gave rise to speculation that some plant growing on soils of recent glacial 
activity, or some substance, such as lime or gravel, present in these soils might 
be essential for the welfare and breeding vigor of exotic game birds. Early 
investigations indicated that a relationship existed between the availability of 
