12 TH Be A-UD2U- BiO Ne BeUs Leia ee 
REPORT ON PRAIRIE CHICKENS IN ILLINOIS 
By J. W. GALBREATH 
MY FIRST EXPERIENCE with 
Prairie Chickens occurred in early 
childhood when I accompanied my 
father to the field on a warm day in 
April. After following the furrow 
behind his plow for about three 
rounds, I sought refuge in the wagon 
which contained our lunch, farm 
tools, and hay and corn for the team. 
I shall never forget the lonely sound 
of a distant booming cock which 
reminded me that at the moment, 
I was a tired little boy who would 
rather have been safe and secure 
at home. 
As a boy of fourteen, during a school recess in Wayne County, I saw 
thousands of Prairie Chickens landing in a quarter-mile of tall osage 
orange hedgerow. This once-in-a-lifetime spectacle lasted only a few 
seconds. As if at a signal from some leader, all the birds left in a great 
flurry of wings. 
A third encounter, with numbers of cocks booming, occurred in 1932. 
On the east slope of a rolling knoll, some fifty or sixty Prairie Chickens 
fascinated me for almost an hour, from about 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. The 
ground had been in cowpeas the year before and now was almost bare of 
all vegetation. Also in the 80’s, I witnessed great flocks, estimated in the 
thousands, wintering in weed fields and red top stubble northeast of Cisne. 
These are highlights in the experience of one who grew up in Prairie 
Chicken country—Wayne County—when these birds were abundant. 
Today, due to the changes in agriculture, the Prairie Chicken is doomed 
unless enough undisturbed grassland is set aside to provide nesting and brood- 
ing cover. We have accomplished our first objective: the 77-acre Pleasant 
Ridge Sanctuary, south of Newton in Jasper County, is now a reality. 
John Slachter, Game Biologist with the Illinois Conservation Depart- 
ment, who is studying the Prairie Chicken, estimated in the 1962 winter 
census that not over 1,000 remain in the state. There has been a slight 
increase in the past year because of favorable nesting conditions, Soil 
Bank grasslands, and the A.S.C. program. Assisting our program, the 
State Conservation Department has leased about 200 acres of desirable 
grasslands in the vicinity of the Pleasant Ridge Sanctuary. 
On March 17 a second installment of $6,800 was paid to Mr. Smith- 
enry. He took a note from the Prairie Chicken Foundation for $1,938.48, 
the balance due. On April 17, 1962, thanks to your generous response, 
we paid this sum to Mr. Smithenry. A loan of $6,600, interest-free for 
one year, has been secured from the Nature Conservancy. We hope to 
pay off this balance in a year if contributions continue to come in as 
well as they have during the past year. To date, we have received 
$13,282.36 from 913 contributions. Many of these are three-year repeats. 
Four individuals have contributed $100 each. The Illinois Federation of 
Sportsmen’s Clubs gave over $500 in the first four months of 1962. 
Many Audubon Clubs have given $25 to $50 each over the three years. 
