Mrs. Doris Dodds (Librarian) 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY 
JAM 5 1970 
LIBRARY 
Urbana, Illinois December, 1969 
Vol. 12, No. 12 
1. Pheasant Popula tions and Land Use S. L. Etter, 
R. E. Greenberg 
Beginning in the fall of 1968, a belated attempt was made to determine the 
effect of marking pheasants with plastic (fiberthin and coverlite) back tags. 
In this attempt, half of the juvenile cock pheasants captured during the fall 
trapping period were marked with back tags and bands and half were marked with 
bands only. Tags and bands, and bands only, were put on alternately, so that 
the effects of differences in locations and dates of capture were minimized. 
Adult cocks were excluded from the test sample because of the small numbers 
captured and the possibility of differences in recovery rates related to age. 
During the hunting season of 1968, 13 cocks with tags and bands and 12 
cocks with bands only were shot and were reported to project personnel. To date 
(December 20), three additional cocks with tags and bands and three cocks with 
bands only, from the 1968 trapped sample, have been reported shot during the 
hunting season of 1969* Nine cocks with tags and bands and II cocks with bands 
only, from the 1969 trapped sample, have been reported shot thus far. 
Although the sample size is small (a total of 25 cocks with tags and bands 
and 26 cocks with bands only, during the 2 years), these data suggest that back 
tags have little effect on the survival of juvenile cock pheasants. Whether 
these findings are also indicative of the effect of tags on hen pheasants is 
unknown. Because of the absence of an unbiased means of recovering marked hens, 
continuation of the present study appears to be the only means for testing the 
effect of back tags under field conditions. 
2. Manipulation of Roadside Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
In the spring of I960, the Illinois Division of Highways, the Natural 
History Survey, and the Department of Conservation undertook a cooperative 
project for experimental management of roadside cover along Highway 47 in Ford 
and Livingston counties. This is a study of the feasibility of managing 
vegetative cover along a state primary highway to benefit song and game birds: 
cover that is compatible with the basic objectives of roadside maintenance 
operations and the safe, orderly movement of vehicular traffic. 
The investigation in Ford and Livingston counties has been dealing with two 
different types of treated roadside segments: 
1. Three, 1-mile segments, between Gibson City and Strawn, seeded on both 
sides with a combination of smooth brome ( Bromus inermis) and alfalfa ( Medicago 
sativa) from the ditch to the fence and left unmowed. 
