Vo 1. 11, No. 6 
Page 2 
It was anticipated when the seedings were established that brome would eventu¬ 
ally become the dominate species on the roadsides, and that with decreasing amounts 
of alfalfa (to provide nitrogen for the brome)', the quality of the brome and with 
it the quality of the roadsides as pheasant nesting cover would decrease. Data 
obtained from the quadrats show that alfalfa has held up well on the roadsides 
through 5 years of age. This may indicate that seeded roadsides will be retained 
as quality nesting cover longer than was at first anticipated. 
3. Factors Influencing Pistribut ion and Abundance of Pheasants W. L. Anderson 
The body weights of 11, actively laying hen pheasants collected in Ford and 
Livingston counties between April 22 and Hay 29> 1968, averaged 1,080 grams. This 
compares favorably with the mean weights of hens collected during the same period 
in 1966 (1,045 grams) and in 1967 (1,075 grams). Mean weights of selected tissues 
and organs excised from the hens collected in 1968, compared with those from hens 
collected in 1966 and in I 967 , respectively, were: sternal muscles, 100 and 100 
percent; fat strip, 127 and 122 percent; visceral fat, 122 and 92 percent; liver, 
99 and 88 percent; and ovary, 134 and 94 percent. Counts of ruptured follicles in 
the ovaries indicated that the hens collected in I 968 had laid, on the average, 
12.5 eggs, which is similar to the average number of eggs laid by hens collected in 
1966 (12.3 eggs) and in I 967 (14.1 eggs). 
These findings suggest that hen pheasants in east-central Illinois entered 
the nesting season in better physical condition in I 968 than in 1966 --a year of 
"average" production--and in about the same condition as in 1967“*a year of excellent 
production. Hence, it is predicted that pheasant production will be above average 
in 1968. 
4. Responses of Bobwhites to Habitat Manipulation J. A. Ellis, K. P. Thomas 
To gain insight into the chronology of hatching of quail, the length of the 
last molted primary was measured for 624 wings collected from juveniles during the 
hunting seasons (1964-67) on the Dale and Forbes areas. The age in days was extra¬ 
polated, for each bird, from published data. By backdating from the dates of 
collection, the dates of hatch were determined for birds less than 150 days of age. 
Of the 624 wings examined, 14 were older than 150 days when collected. 
From this sample of wings, the earliest date of hatch was June 15 (1966) and 
the latest date of hatch was October 2 (1965); both birds were from the Dale Area. 
The mean dates of hatch ranged from July 12 on Forbes in 1965 to July 31 on Forbes 
in 1967. 
The average percent of hatch after July 20 was relatively low on Forbes (32 
percent) and Dale (40 percent) during the period 1964-66. However, 64 percent and 
55 percent of the juveniles in the samples in 1967 were hatched after July 20 on 
Forbes and Dale, respectively, which probably influenced the high population levels 
on both areas in the fall of 1 967 - 
In general, mean dates of hatch of quail were found to correspond to the number 
of juvenile cocks/adult cock among birds caught in cock-hen traps during June and 
July, i.e., the greater the number of juvenile cockS/adult cock, the earlier the 
mean date of hatch, and, consequently, the lower percentage of young produced after 
July 20. Factors causing differential age ratios among juvenile and adult cocks 
