cxi. 
NATUHAL KiSTOHY SURVEY 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER NOV 5 1970 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Co4$feV#ting 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, 111inois 
October, 1970 
Vol. 13, No. 10 
1. Pheasant Popu l ations and Land Use S. L. Etter, 
R. E. Greenberg 
During the summers of 1S&9 anfl 1970, 30 unmarked hen pheasants were captured 
on their nests while they were incubating. Three additional incubating hens were 
examined after being killed by hay mowers. Proximal primary wing feathers removed 
from these 33 hens were measured ar.d age-classes were assigned according to criteria 
established on the basis of measurements of the proximal primaries of hens captured 
during the winter of 1970 (MWRL 13(3) :1)« From 1963 through 1969, 22 tagged hens 
of known ages were observed on nests. 
Incubated clutches from nests established by 25 first-year hens varied in 
size from 6 to 19 eggs, with a mean and standard deviation of 10.6 + 3»5 eggs. 
Incubated clutches of 30 older hens varied in size from 6 to 21 eggs, with a mean 
and standard deviation of 11.1 + 3.0 eggs. These data indicate that clutch size 
is highly variable for both first-year and older hens and that extremely large 
sample sizes would be necessary to determine whether the observed difference in 
clutch sizes between age-classes is significant. 
When only those nests established during the period April 30 to May 27 were 
compared, the mean clutch sizes of 16 first-year hens and of 15 older hens were 
nearly equal (11.1 and 11.2 eggs, respectively). Thus, the slightly larger mean 
clutch size of older hens, compared with that of first-year hens, apparently 
resulted from a greater proportion of large clutches laid by older hens early in 
the nesting season. It appears from these data that any differences in reproductive 
performance between first-year and older nesting hens result from differences in 
the timing and persistence of the nesting effort rather than from differences in 
clutch size. 
2. Manipulation of Pheasa nt Habi tat G. B. Joselyn 
Because unmanaged control plots represent "typical" roadsides on the study 
area (in that their mowing is not controlled), differences in pheasant nest densities 
between this type of roadside and seeded plots are considered the best indicators of 
the response of pheasants to the seeding of roadsides. 
For the 8 years 1963-1970, pheasant nest density on seeded plots (2.6 nests per 
acre) was about double that on all (mewed and unmowed) unmanaged control plots (1.2 
nests per acre). Nest density on seeded plots was about three times that on mowed, 
unmanaged control plots (0.8 nest per acre), but was only about one-fourth greater 
than the density on unmanaged control roadsides that were unmowed (2.0 nests per 
acre), thus indicating that merely leaving roadsides unmowed could result in 
meaningful benefits to nesting pheasants. 
