Vo 1. 14, No. 1 
Page 3 
4. Responses of Bobwhites to Habitat Manipulation 
J. A. Ellis, 
D. R. Vance 
Food items in crops from quail harvested on the Forbes Area in I 969 
were identified and ranked by percent occurrence and by total volume (cc) 
for each management zone. All three zones were subject to some sharecropping, 
with Zone 1 being the most intensively farmed (41 percent cropland). Zone 2 
contained about 35 percent cropland. Approximately 15 percent of the open 
land in Zone 3 was farmed. In addition, food patches were established on 
Zones 2 and 3* 
Crop contents of the harvested birds reflected availability of food 
items. The three most frequently occurring food items in crops from birds 
harvested on Zone 1 were Korean lespedeza ( Lespedeza stipulacea ), soybeans 
(Glycine max ), and corn ( Zea mays ). The three most important food items by 
volume were again soybeans, corn, and Korean lespedeza. Korean lespedeza, 
beggar-ticks (Bidens spp.), and foxtail (Setaria spp.) were the most 
frequently occurring food items in crops from birds harvested on Zone 2. 
Korean lespedeza, wheat ( Triticum aestivum ), and foxtail were the most 
important food items by volume. The most frequently occurring food items 
in crops from birds harvested on Zone 3 were Korean lespedeza, corn, and 
common ragweed ( Ambrosia artemisiifolia ). The most important food items 
by volume were wheat, corn, and Korean lespedeza. 
All important food items were seeds of agricultural crops or seeds of 
plants associated with early stages of secondary succession. Successful 
management depends largely upon making such food items readily available 
to qua i 1. 
5 . Responses of Prairie Chickens to Habitat Manipu1 at ion R. L. Westemeier 
The changing status of the prairie chicken population on the Bogota 
Study Area during the past 8 years may be divided into three phases. During 
the 2 years, 1963-64, the population was decreasing; during the 3 years, 
1965 - 67 , the population was relatively stable; and during the past 3 years, 
1968 - 70 , the population level has shown substantial gains. 
When the fate of 216 prairie chicken nests (found by searches on 
sanctuaries and private land, and noted according to reliable reports by 
local residents) were analyzed with respect to the above phases, three 
definite trends were evident. First, hatching success progressively increased 
from 36.2 to 47.5 to 60.2 percent for the decreasing, relatively stable, 
and increasing periods, respectively. Secondly, the percentage of nests 
destroyed by plowing and hay mowing decreased from 51*7 to 30.0 to 9*3 
percent for the three periods, respectively. Thirdly, the percentage 
of nests destroyed by predators, abandoned, or both, increased from 12.1 
