8 
particularly in the prime pheasant range in east-central 
Illinois, resulted from the rapid decrease in acreages 
of tame hays and other suitable nesting habitats. The 
increase in acreages planted to the major cash-grain 
crops, corn and soybeans, has brought about this de- 
crease in nesting habitats (Labisky 1968:353-389; 
Joselyn et al. 1968:217-218). The drought of 1964 de- 
pressed pheasant production and also contributed to 
the decline in abundance. 
It is most unlikely that substantial gains in pheasant 
abundance will occur in east-central Illinois in future 
years unless there is a reversal of agricultural trends, 
which seems most improbable. In fact, it is doubtful 
that pheasants will be able to maintain existing popu- 
lation levels for long under today’s farming practices. 
To illustrate, the obvious fragmentation of Illinois’ good 
pheasant range in 1968, as evidenced by the intersper- 
sion of areas of lower pheasant abundance with those 
of higher abundance (Fig. 4), suggests that further 
declines in abundance will be forthcoming. Livingston 
County, the top-ranked pheasant county in the state, 
shows signs of being cleaved from northwest to south- 
east by a trough of lower pheasant abundance. Other 
top-ranked counties, notably Champaign, Iroquois, and 
McLean, exhibited noticeable range fragmentation be- 
tween 1963 and 1968 (Fig. 3 and 4). 
In 1968 the only sector of pheasant range in the state 
showing encouraging increases in pheasant numbers 
was in that block of counties (Logan, Moultrie, De 
Witt, Macon, Mason, Christian, Menard, Sangamon, 
and Cass) constituting the southwestern portion of IIli- 
nois’ occupied pheasant range. Gains in pheasant num- 
bers in this area, much of which was classified as medi- 
ocre to poor with respect to abundance as recently 
as the early 1960’s, were unusually great (Table 2; Fig. 
24). In fact, within this sector of pheasant range a 
secondary center of abundance has appeared in north- 
ern Logan County. Not only did this southwest sector 
of range contain more pheasants in 1968 than it ever 
had, but it also contained the highest density of pheas- 
ants ever recorded along such a broad front so far 
south in Illinois. Similarly, a surge in pheasant abun- 
dance, beginning in the late 1950’s, occurred in an area 
of traditionally poor pheasant range in southwestern 
Iowa (Klonglan 1962); this buildup in pheasant num- 
bers has already persisted for a decade. 
A decisive southward shift in pheasant abundance 
has occurred in Illinois from 1948 to 1968. Northern 
Illinois, which contained strong secondary centers of 
pheasant abundance in the late 1940’s, had, by 1968, 
exhibited greater proportionate declines in pheasant 
numbers than any other major region of the state. As 
pheasant abundance declined in northern Illinois, it 
increased in the prime range of east-central Illinois— 
reaching an all-time high about 1963. Yet in 1968, east- 
central Illinois, despite sustaining a 60-percent decline 
in the pheasant population from that of 1963, still con- 
tained the state’s center of pheasant abundance as it 
had in the preceding 30 years. However, during the 
1960's a comparatively spectacular gain in abundance 
occurred in a large and contiguous segment of range 
(4-90587-5M—5-69) 
located south-southwestward from east-central IIlinoj 
and north of the southern boundary of the contiguou 
pheasant range in Illinois. If pheasant abundance con 
tinues to dissipate in east-central Illinois as a result 9 
current agricultural practices, the southwestern portio; 
of range may replace east-central Illinois as the state’ 
center of pheasant abundance. Even though popula 
tion abundance has increased along the southernmos 
boundary of the pheasant’s range in Illinois in recen 
years, there has been no real southward extension 09 
the bird’s range in the state. 
SUMMARY 
The relative abundance of pheasants per 100 mile 
of driving in the 74 northernmost counties of Illinois 
as reported by rural mail carriers during April censuses 
was 7.6 in 1958, 9.9 in 1963, and 5.5 in 1968. Thus 
pheasants increased in abundance by about 30 percen| 
between 1958 and 1963 and then declined by abou! 
44 percent between 1963 and 1968. The all-time higl 
in pheasant abundance in Illinois was probably reachec 
in 1962 or 1963. 
Although the number of pheasants in Illinois has de 
clined during the past decade, not all portions of the 
state’s pheasant range have suffered similarly. Pheasan! 
abundance in east-central Illinois, the state’s prime 
pheasant range since the 1930's, increased about 5( 
percent between 1958 and 1963 and then declined by 
about 60 percent between 1963 and 1968. Pheasant: 
in northern Illinois were less than half as abundant ir 
1968 as in 1958. In contrast, a severalfold increase in 
pheasant abundance occurred between 1958 and 196% 
in a large, contiguous unit of range immediately south. 
southwestward from east-central Illinois. 
Notably, Illinois has experienced a significant, pro- 
gressive southward shift in pheasant abundance within 
the past 20 years. Yet, despite the recent surge in pheas- 
ant abundance in the southern portion of the range 
occupied by pheasants, there has been no permanent 
southward extension of the birds’ range in the state, 
LITERATURE CITED 
GREELEY, FREDERICK, RONALD F. Lasisky, and Stuart H. 
Mann. 1962. Distribution and abundance of pheasants 
in Illinois. Illinois Natural History Survey Biological 
Notes 47. 16 p. 
JosELYN, G. Bair, JoHN E. Warnock, and STANLEY L. Erren. 
1968. Manipulation of roadside cover for nesting 
pheasants—a preliminary report. Journal of Wildlife 
Management 32( 2) :217—233. 
KLONGLAN, EucGENE DAWayNE. 1962. Ecology of pheasant 
production in southwestern Iowa. Ph.D. Thesis. Iowa 
State University of Science and Technology, Ames. 343 p. 
Lasisky, RonaLp F. 1968. Ecology of pheasant populations 
in Illinois. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Wisconsin, 
Madison. 511 p. 
Lasisky, RONALD F., and Witit1am L. ANbERSON. 1965. 
Changes in distribution and abundance of pheasants in 
Illinois: 1958 versus 1963. Illinois State Academy of 
Science Transactions 58(2):127—135. 
Ropertson, WILLIAM B., Jr. 1958. Investigations of ring- 
necked pheasants in Illinois. Illinois Department of 
Conservation Technical Bulletin 1. 137 p. 
