MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois February, 1971 Vol. 14, No. 2 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use S. L. Etter, 
R. E. Greenberg 
During the 5~year period 1962-66, the amount of hay and hay pasture 
on the Sibley Study Area decreased from 2,790 acres to 929 acres (67 
percent). Small grains (oats, wheat, and rye) decreased from 3,457 
acres in 1962 to 1,032 acres in 1 966 (70 percent). Twenty-one percent 
of the fencerows present in 1 962 had been removed by 1966, as had 18 
percent of the grass waterways. Fourteen percent of the permanent 
pasture present in 1962 was under cultivation by I 966 , but because 
roadsides, railroad rights-of-way, and drainage ditches were included 
in this category, total permanent cover decreased by only 5 percent 
(1,474 acres to 1,394 acres). 
Estimates of the late-summer pheasant populations in 1 962 and I 966 , 
based on nest data and brood observations, were 3 l8 and 81 pheasants per 
square mile, respectively. These data indicate a decrease of 75 percent 
in pheasant numbers concomitant with the cover changes enumerated above. 
Inasmuch as estimates of the late-summer pheasant populations during the 
period 1987“70 nave remained below 100 birds per square mile, there is 
little doubt that the major portion of the decline in pheasant numbers 
is attributable to a drastic reduction in the carrying capacity of the 
area, resulting from land-use changes. Thus there is little reason to 
believe that pheasants will regain more than a fraction of their former 
abundance without a major reversal in farming practices. 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
In the spring of 1968 , 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 (MWRL 12(12):1-2). Three, 
1-mile segments, between Gibson City and Strawn, were seeded on both 
sides with a combination of smooth brome ( Bromus inermis ) and alfalfa 
(Medicaqo sativa ) from the ditch to the fence and left unmowed. Starting 
in I 969 , the highway was driven at periodic intervals during April, May, 
and June in an attempt to detect any differences in the frequency of 
pheasant roadkills adjacent to the unmowed segments as compared with 
nearby control miles where normal mowing practices were carried out. 
