Vol. 14, No. 3 
Page 3 
This dramatic response by quail during the initial year of the 
sharecropping programs was the third such response recorded on the Dale 
and Forbes areas since 1966 . These data also reinforce our contention 
that periodic disturbances such as sharecropping and prescribed burning 
initiate those stages of plant succession to which the bobwhite is 
evolutionarily adapted. Such disturbances are essential to any program 
of quail management. 
5. Responses of Prairie Chickens to Habitat Manipulation R. L. Westemeier 
During the years 1963 through 1963, only an occasional pheasant 
cock was seen or heard crowing on the Bogota Study Area, and no adverse 
interactions were noted between pheasants and prairie chickens. How¬ 
ever, in the spring of 1969 ; at least four crowing cocks were seen or 
heard on the Bogota Area, and the first pheasant nest on a prairie 
chicken sanctuary was found during the summer of 1 969 - 
During the spring of 1970, at least six pheasant cocks were noted 
at Bogota. On April 8, 1970, a pheasant cock succeeded in intimidating 
and driving a prairie chicken cock from a site burned for a booming 
ground on the Mark 40 Sanctuary. The pheasant cock subsequently began 
courting a nearby harem composed of a prairie chicken hen and a 
pheasant hen. A booming ground did not become established on the Mark 
40 Sanctuary in 1970. Seven pheasant nests were found on the sanctuaries 
in 1970, and one hatched prairie chicken nest was found that contained 
15 prairie chicken eggs plus 4 hatched pheasant eggs. 
An increased pheasant population is again evident at Bogota on the 
basis of winter (1970-71) observations, and aggressive interactions be¬ 
tween pheasants and prairie chickens are being observed on the Donnelley 
and Yeatter sanctuaries. On December 30, 1970, a single pheasant cock 
was observed "taking on" about 40 prairie chicken cocks near the 
Donnelley Sanctuary. The pheasant cock was successful in maintaining 
a territory in the center of the booming ground by persistent aggressive 
display from which the prairie chicken cocks cowered and repeatedly 
retreated. Also this spring, similar aggression by a pheasant cock 
appears to be causing the collapse of a traditional booming ground on 
the Yeatter Sanctuary. 
These observations indicate the need for pheasant-control measures 
at Bogota. They also indicate an additional problem to be expected 
should prairie chicken restoration be attempted in the established 
pheasant range of 111inois--Goose Lake Prairie in Grundy County, for 
example. 
6. Rabbit Management G. B. Rose 
As described in MWRL 14(2):3“4, cottontail rabbits were livetrapped 
each fall from 1956 through 1970 on the 100-acre study area (4-H Area) 
at Robert Allerton Park. 
