- 2 “ 
range (Ford and Livingston counties, northern Coles County, and Neoga 
Release Area in Cumberland County, respectively). Of particular interest 
is the finding that, of 15 internal organs analyzed, all except bursae and 
livers contained lower concentrations of ash in pheasants from poor range 
than in birds from good range. The mineral concentrations in organs from 
birds representing fair range also were lower than in those of birds from 
good range; the only exceptions among 13 organs for which comparisons were 
possible were concentrations in adrenals, gizzard linings, and livers. When 
the internal organs were considered collectively--as though they were one, 
large sample—concentrations of ash in them were calculated to be 1.25, 1 . 13 , 
and 1.15 percent for birds from good, fair, and poor pheasant range, respective¬ 
ly* 
Concentrations of major elements in internal organs, when considered 
collectively, exhibited area-to-area differences similar to those evident 
among the percent ash of these tissues. All five major elements for which 
analyses were conducted (calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and 
sodium) were less abundant in organs from pheasants from poor and from fair 
range than in organs from birds from good range. Although the differences 
are small in some instances, ranging from 6 percent for phosphorus to 28 
percent for calcium, they are difficult to ignore in view of their consistency. 
There were 11 trace elements whose concentrations in pheasant tissues 
exhibited area-to-area differences that seem worthy of emphasis. Four of 
these (aluminum, barium, manganese, and titanium) were less than 50 percent 
as abundant, and five (chromium, lead, nickel, vanadium, and zirconium) at 
least twice as abundant, in blood, livers, or kidneys from pheasants from 
poor range as in these tissues from birds representing good range. Cobalt, 
as well as molybdenum, exhibited conflicting area-to-area differences, birds 
from poor range compared with birds from good range, in two or more of the 
tissues, blood, livers, and kidneys. Concentrations of aluminum and of 
manganese in kidneys, and of titanium in livers were directly related to 
abundance of pheasants in the three ranges. Conversely, concentrations of 
lead and of vanadium in kidneys were inversely related to pheasant abundance. 
The many area-to-area differences in elemental concentrations in pheasant 
tissues, as well as in soil, grit, and toods, found during this study make 
it difficult to discount any element or group of elements as being unimportant 
in limiting the distribution of ring-necked pheasants in Illinois. For the 
same reason, it is almost equally as difficult to single out individual 
elements as having greater influence than others on pheasant abundance. Never¬ 
theless, on the basis of findings of this investigation, suspicion might be 
directed first toward the elements calcium, magnesium, potassium, chromium, 
cobalt, and molybdenum. Concentrations of calcium, magnesium, and potassium 
in soil, as well as in pheasants, were less in poor range than in good range. 
Chromium, cobalt, and molybdenum are suspected of possibly influencing the 
abundance of pheasants more than other trace elements because (1) they are 
essential; (2) they exhibited area-to-area differences in concentrations in 
at least two of the three tissues, blood, livers, and kidneys; (3) concen¬ 
trations of chromium in blood and of molybdenum in livers increased with 
increases in age in pheasants from poor range but not in pheasants from good 
range; and (4) chromium and molybdenum, plus the "nonessential" element lead, 
were the only trace elements whose area-to-area differences in concentrations 
in pheasant tissues were directly related to differences in grit collected 
in the three ranges. 
