•* ) 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
September, I 967 
Vo 1. 10, No. 9 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use 
S. L. Etter 
The standardized counts of pheasant broods, made on the Sibley Study Area 
during July and August I 967 , revealed 4 percent more broods than were recorded 
in 1966 and II percent more than were recorded in 19&5* One hundred twenty-seven 
broods were observed along 640 miles of roadside transect (two 40-mile routes were 
driven weekly), compared with 122 broods in 1966 and 114 broods in 1965* The 
average size of broods judged to be completely counted was 5*6 chicks, compared 
with 5.3 chicks in 1966 , an increase of 6 percent. 
The number of adult hen pheasants observed during July and August along these 
same 640 miles decreased from 242 in 1966 to 214 in 1967 (12 percent). Forty-one 
percent of the adult hens observed in I 967 were broodless, compared with 49 per- 
cent in 1 966 . 
The above indices reveal a slight increase in production in 1 96 7^ compared 
with 1966 . 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
During 1967* the density of successful pheasant nests on both seeded and 
managed control roadsides was 0.5 per acre. This represents the lowest density 
of successful nests on seeded plots since the initiation of this investigation. 
Success rates on seeded plots in previous years were 1.1, 0.8, 0.8, and 0.7 nest 
per acre for I 963 , 1964, I 965 , and 1966, respectively; managed control plots had 
success rates, for the same years, of 0.5> 0.3* 0.4, and 0.6 nest per acre. Over 
the 5-year period, 71 nests have hatched on seeded roadsides (0.8 ne:,t per acre), 
compared with 41 successful nests on managed control plots (0.4 nest per acre). 
The low density of successful nests on seeded plots in 1967 is primarily a 
reflection of a substantially lower number of established nests than in previous 
years, whereas the number of nests established on managed control plots was only 
slightly lower than in previous years. The proportion of established nests that 
hatched on seeded plots was 39 percent in 1963 , 21 percent in 1964, 29 percent in 
1965> 23 percent in I 966 , and 26 percent in 1967* On managed control roadsides, 
the proportion of established nests that hatched was 17 percent in 1 963 ^ 13 percent 
in 1964, 24 percent in 1965> 32 percent in 1966 , and 23 percent in 1967* 
P 3* Factors 1nf1uencinq Dist ribut ion and Abundance of Pheasants W. L. Anderson 
One phase of the investigations of possible effects of inorganic ions on the 
