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State of Illinois
Henry Horner, Governor

Department of Registration and Education
John J. Hallihan, Director

QUAIL AND PHEASANT STUDIES IN AN ORCHARD COUNTY

Frank C. Bellrose, Jr.

Published by Authority of the State of Illinois

NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY
Theodore H. Frison, Chief

Biological Notes No. 13 Urbana, Illinois May, 1940

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QUAIL. AND PHEASANT STUDIES IN AN ORCHARD COUNTY

Frank C. Bellrose, Jr.*
Illinois Natural History Survey

In the summer of 1938, nesting studies and population
estimates were made of quail and pheasants in the lower third of
Calhoun County, Illinois. While some cruising of orchards and hay
fields was undertaken to locate nests, most of the information on
which these studies are based was obtained by interviewing farmers,
during haying operations, in the field. Data were obtained on the
number of acres of various farm crops, dates of mowing of forage
crops, and number of quail and pheasant nests found.

These studies were extensive rather than intensive and
were designed to shed some light on choice of nesting cover, nest-
ing losses due to mowing, and relative density of quail and pheas-
anes in one of the better Illinois quail counties. It is well
known that farmers engaged in cutting operations often overlook the
nests of upland game birds, but the number of such nests overlooked
in Calhoun County is thought to be less than in most other parts of
the Middle West because of the small fields and the scarcity of
tractor-drawn mowers and rakes in this county.

Calhoun County consists principally of a long, narrow
strip of rolling land between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers,
extending about 40 miles from north to south, with an average width
of 8 miles. Underlying the surface soil is a narrow limestone ridge,
elevated 200 to 500 feet above the rivers and flanked on either side
by their alluyial bottoms. Over this limestone ridge: have been de-
posited materials of the Quaternary Period, consisting of clays,
Bpravel and loess, which cover ‘the ridge to a depth of 50 to 100 feet.

Formerly heavily forested with oaks, hickories and maples,
the upland area has been cleared of most of its native stand and
planted to apples, hay crops and grains. However, small woodlots
abound, and brushy fencerows and roadsides are the rule rather than
the exception. These form an ideal interspersion of cover types.
Little corn is grown, but an excellent supply of the lesser. ragweed
and other natural foods exists along fencerows, woodlots, roadsides,
ereek banks and elsewhere.

“The writer is indebted to Arthur S. Hawkins, who super-
Vised this study, giving many helpful suggestions and criticisms.

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Vesting cover in Calhoun County, table 1, can be classified
according to four major types:. (1) roadsides and fencerows, (7°) ap-

ple orchards, (3) hay fields and (4) grain fields. Roadside end
fencerow nesting cover is furnished are aes be sueh plants as blue
grass (Poa praetensis), ean lettuc (Lactuca ee) Gaisy fleavane

Apple orchards, ranging in size from 1 acre to avout: 300
acres, abound on the rolling hills and provide more acreage of quail
nesting cover than any of the other three types.. Sincs most of the
orchards are on rolling terrain, it’ is* common practice to retard
erosion by seeding between the trees with a mixture of red clover,
blue grass and brome grass. This practice has, Of course, @restig
increased the quality of nesting covers in many orehares. In other
orchards, where invasion of vegetation into bare areas is allcwsd to
take place, forbs and Other coarse herbs predominate in the ground
cover. To facilitate spraying and picking of oo Fruit growers
generaliy cut the herbaceous undergrowtu in midsumner. During the
1958 season, however, because of the poor crop of apples, less than
sO per cent of the orchards were mowed; so poor in fact was the
apple crop that many orchards were sprayed only once.

On the 70 or more farms studied in the lower third of
Calhoun County in 1938, hay was grown on 1,537 acres; rea clover, ‘he
most important hay ercp, on 1,163 acres; alfalfa, the seccnd in imr-
portance, on 249 acres; sweet clover, on 175 acres. Wheat. grown on
Son arms, Comprasedi05) per seébns of the acreage of’ small grains. ~ it
aggregated 1,568 acres.

BOBWHITE QUAI

Clean farming, as practiced in the Big Prairie district of
Iilinois, has greatly restricted the range of the bobwhite quail. iE
present, good quail territory aS Lound farce ly atone bac blues of
the Tllinois and Mississippi rivers and in the hili and tight subsoil
regions of southern Blodas Calhoun County combines many of the
hapitat characteristics of the river bluff and the hill countries,
making it especially favoreble to quail.

Roadside Nesting

Roadsides aggregating aporoximately 20 mites in length,
about 25 acres in area, were cut by a local township commissioner be-
tween May 27 and July 15. Cursory observation indicated that approx-
imately two-thirds of this area, 16 acres, was suitable for nesting
cover. Table 1 shows the relative density of quail nests in these
16 acres of cut roadside cover as compared to the density in other
cover types. No data on uncut roadside cover were obtained.

Of the four nests found along the mowed roadside, three
were in ciumps of blue grass; the other was in a patch of eweet

clover. Two nests were deserted because of mowing; one nest hatched.
Im one “instance the female returned to the nest only to have it
destroyed by a predator, probably a dog.

. Orchard Nesting

In 1938, of the 2,635 acres of ground cover in apple
orchards on the 76 Calhoun County farms visited, 1,000 acres were
mowed. The number of. acres. of orchard ground cover mowed is re=.
ported to vary considerably from year to year; it depends on the
crop of apples and the luxuriance of the herbaceous vegetation.
Fewer acres than usual were cut in 1938. : Moreover, orchards that
“were mowed contained many scattered patches of uncut vegatation.

The number of quail nests reported in the 1,000 acres of mowed nest-
img, eover,.in orchards is shown imyteable i.

Despite some disturbance by the mower, 11 birds returned
to their nests. Nests of two of these birds were subsequently de-
sStroyed by predators, but nine nests hatehed. Rach of thesia aca
bating birds flushed ahead of the sickle bar, prompting the operator
to raise the bar sufficiently, toileavey an istend of) vegeltatuenm
around the nest. Thirteen nests were essay ot by the mower. The
outcome of one nest was not determined.

In every instance, quail nests in apple orchards were
located in the, open areas: between thejrowsof trees: Despite eare=
fui search, not one nest was found nearvthe, base of al tres ;aaiscemces
from nest to nearest tree trunk varied from 8 to 26 feet, with an
average of 12 feet. The growth in the open areas evidently offers
better nesting cover than the sparse vegetation underneath the tree
canopy, where there is a deficiency of sunlight.

Of the 25 nests found in orchards, 6 were in red) elovery
18 were in @ mixture of blue grass and dai sy fleabane, and 1 was on
the bare ground, being roofed over with dead blue- -prass stems.

Hay f temd Nesving

Red Clover.--Of the 70 Calhoun County farms visited ;'50
produced red clover on a total of 1,163 acres. Seven hundred fifty
acres were cut for hay; 413 were not mowed. The 413 unmowed acres
were combined for seed in late August. Data on the first cutting of
PedicLover are piven in babies ee

The first beobwhite quail nest was not found until May 27,
but hatching dates given in'table 2 indicate that part of the quail
population, despite a cool, rainy spring, started nesting early in
May. From data presented in table e,ult istevidenb that a sunibperteg
quail nests escaped destruction by natch! ing previous to completion
Oil \yelakes at alieshe cutting o of alfalfa and of red clover.

Relative numbers of nests in red clover as compared with
those in other kinds of hay crops are given in table 1. Nest de=
struction in all but two cases was due directly to mowing. There are
two records of incubating birds returning to their nests--doubtlessly
because an island of cover was left about the nests--to hatch the
eggs.» In another instance, a nest was deserted despite the island of
clover tertyabout Lb.

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labile 2.-—-Data. on mowing of red clover and alfalfa and
Heabehineg. of usr nests, Calhoun County, Iliinois, 1955.

RereCen tao Number of
Red Clover Per Cent of Alfalfa Mowed Nests

eek Mowed First Cutting Second Cutting Hatched —
May 16-23 --- 4,4 --- O
peers! 0.6 60.0 sos 3
June 1-8 15.0 50.6 --- 4
9-16 75.0 --- --- 2
17-24 aller --- --- O
June 2o-July 2 --- --- 8.5 6
July 5-10 --- --- 76.7 5
11-18 --- --- 15.0 1
19-25 = --- “-- a

Alfalfa.--Forty-three farms produced 249 acres of alfalfa.
Forty-two acres escaped early cutting, but by mid July all but 6
acres had been mowed at least once. Table 2 shows the first cutting
extending from May 16 to June 8; the second cutting extended from
fame 2o cto duly 16. It should be noted that the peak of the> first
cutting was reached 2 weeks earlier in alfalfa than in red clover.

When the dates of alfalfa mowing are compared with those
for tae hatching of-20.quatl' nests, table 2, it: is apparent that
only a small percentage of nests hatched previous to completion of
the first mowing and that few renesting birds would escape nest
destruction by the second cutting.

The number of bobwhite nests found in alfalfa, as compared
Go those in other types of cover, is given in table 1. Twenty-four
nests in alfalfa were destroyed or deserted as a result of mowing.
However, there is one case of a quail returning to a cut-over nest
to hatch the eggs.

Sweet Clover.--In 1938, sweet clover was grown on 15 farms,
where it totaled 175 acres. Eighty-four acres of this were cut; the
remaining 91 acres were left for use as a soil conserver and soil
builder. Dates of mowing of this crop ranged from May 27 to July 2,
Wath a mean of June 15. Of the two nests discovered in this cover,
both were destroyed by mowing. A small percentage of quail nests
reached the hatching stage before the peak of cutting of sweet clover
in mid June.

Grain Field Nesting

Wheat was grown on 1,568 acres of the farms studied in
Calhoun County in 1938. Information was obtained on 1,072 of these
acres cut by binders and combines. Despite cruising by the: author
in one wheat field and the vigilance of many farmers, only two quail
nests were located in this cover type, for a density of one nest in
051 acres. In both instances the incubating birds returned to their
nests in the stubble. One nest hatched about June 30; the other was
still being incubated on July 18. -The first nest was situated in a
wheat field in which red clover had been sowed; the clover furnished
added nesting cover. The second nest was partly under a shock of
wheat bundles.

From the low nesting density in wheat fields, it appears
that small grains are little utilized for nesting purposes by bob-
whites. This fact is most unfortunate, inasmuch as small grains
offer safer nesting sites than do hay fields. In Calhoun County, in
19358, the first wheat fields were not cut until June 18, the peak
not being reached until June 27. The hatching data presented in
table 2 indicate that about half of the quail nests hatched previous
to the first activity of the reaper.

Miscellaneous Nesting Cover

In this category are placed those nesting cover types that
are small and restricted in habitat and that occur in waste corners
of fields, pastures snd woodlowus,.

One nest was found on June 2 among the stubble of a field
that had been in corn the previous year. Situated in a small clump
of grass (Hordeum sp.) and smartweeds (Polygonum sp.), it was
destroyed by plowing. aa ale eae

Raspberry and dewberry patches harbored six nests. In each
instance, however, these nests were among the blue grass growing with
the briers. Three of the nests were destroyed by predators, two
hatched, and the outcome of. one was not determined.

Two nests were found in pastures. Both were located in a
mixture of blue grass and daisy fleabane. Although the roof of one
nest was ramoved in mowing, the female returned to incubate, and the
eggs hatched. The other nest was destroyed by crows.

Nest Loss

Nest loss of quail was greatest in alfalfa, where only a
small percentage of nests escaped by hatching before the mower de-
stroyed them. Since, of all crops, alfalfa showed the highest nest
density and highest nest mortality, this crop formed an important
hazard to the quail of Calhoun County.

’

Red clover was not nearly so hazardous a nesting cover as
citaifeas. ewer birds wereiattracted) to red clover.” Because of the
later mowing of this crop,.early nests escaped Géstruction, and,

furthermore, approximately 30 per cent of this’ crop was. not mowed.

Orchards offered, in 1958, safer nesting sites than did any
ether type of area under cultivation in the southern vart’.of Calhoun
County. Less than 50 per cent of the orchard acreage was mowed. Of
tue Quail nests in orchards, 36 pér cent, hatched, despite the mowing,
in some instances, of the immediate surroundings. While inconclusive,
because meager, data at hand indicate that poe and wild dew-
berry patches and other waste places. were safer nesting habitats than
orchards; roadsides were less sdfe.

Winter Population

In an effort to secure some idea of the abundance of uplanc
game during the winter of 1937-38, the author interviewed farmers as
to the number of quail coveys and pheasants on their farms. Because
the county contains small farms, averaging 80 acres, and bkecause most
farmers there are active hunters, the author believes that a rough
but fairly accurate measurement was obtained. On 10,619 ncres, i87
quail coveys were reported, about one covey per 57 acres. Undoubtsd-
ly some coveys were reported more than once and some coveys unre-
ported. Inasmuch as 10 birds per covey is a conservative average in
that locality, the probable population in the winter cf 137-38 was
about one quail per 6 acres.

Despite heavy nesting losses in mowed areus, Cz
Bd Tne tala of 1958, asin the autumn sot 1957,
quail. This is especially remarkable in view of the disas S
winter of 1955-56 which, according to apparently reliable eae
reduced bobwhites to ©. relatively low population isay aglale} oye halieayec
Undoubtedly bhe rapid recovery was due in large part to successfull
nesting anvapple orchords with uncut cover crops, red [clover fields
many Of <them unmolested until after athena bime., .tencerowsi, an
rasphoerry ond dewberry patches.

RING-NECKED PHEASANT

According to Mra;Robert Meyer, a lifelong resident and
hunter in Calhoun County, the first ring-necked pheasants, a dozen
birds, were reledsed there about 1915. \Liberations of pheasants by
the State Department of Conservation between 1928 and 1927 amounted
to'688 birds; the largest number released in any one year was 158 in
1936.

There was in 1938 a density of approximately one pheasant
per 40°d¢eres.) This figure is based ‘on a)réeportéd 251, birds :on.10,025
acres covering 55 farms. The number is surprisingly high in view of
the fact that in Calhoun County the pheasant is reaching tne southern
extremity of its range and that much of the land there is not devoted
to grain crops.

In:1938, 16 pheasant nests were recorded on 2,077 acres .of
orchard and hay crops in Calhoun County. On 750 acres of mowed red
elover there were five nests, a.density of one’ nestiper 150) aches.
Five pheasant nests were recorded on 243 acres of cut alfalfa fora
density of one nest per 48 acres... Highty-four acres cf sweet clover
contained two nests, one nest per: 42. acres. .0n 1,000. acres) of fiawed
ground cover in orchards there were four pheasant nests, a density
of one nest per £50 acres.

Nest Density

ine

Ring-necked pheasants redehed a.nest density in alfalfa
relatively high for Calhoun County. Sweet clover contained a larger
number of nests per acre, but the acreage involved is considercemcoo
small to be representative.

Mortality

Two.of the four pheasant nests -in orchards hatched; one of
the five nests in.red clover hatched; not) one of the five meses win
alfalfa was successful; and both nests found in sweet clover fields
were destroyed. All known pheasant nesting losses were the direc
result ‘of mowing. One nest was successful) in rod clover: sor magemed
before the field was mowed. Two nesting hens and one adult cock
pheasant were killed in the mowing of 84 acres of sweet clover.

Like the bobwhitc, pheasants attained a higher aesting suc- J
eess in orchards than in any other area under cultivation. Adtewtea
DEOVicd FO be any important nazard to the mesbung suce esis om sume
pheasant through its attractiveness to nesting, birds and the ensuing

heavy, mortality of nests duc to mowing.

MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

Although this study deals largely with conditions in
Calhoun County, the writer believes that some of the principles set
forth in this paper are applicable to regions elsewhere, particularly]
where apples predominate among the farm crops.

The quail population in Calhoun County and many southern
countics is high, but a few simple management practices, that are re-§
lated to nesting and that can be correlated with sound farming
practices, might make it cven higher. The same practices may reason-
ably be expected to benefit the pheasant population.

Apple orchards offer the greatest possibilities for in-=
ercasing the nesting success of bobwhites and pheasants in Caihoun
County. It is commonly rccognized that mowing in many orchards takes
place when there is a lull in*other farm activities.< §Ef, withowsuema
convenience, cutting of the ground cover were delayed until after
July 4, the majority of the quail nests in orchards would escape
destruction from mowing. Such a delay scéms feasible, especially in
those orchards containing varicties of apples not picked until late
August or Scotcmber

IAL

Leaving uncut areas along margins and in corners of
orchards would prevent destruction of many quail nests. It would be
especially beneficial if the same areas in orchards were left uncut
year after year, since early-nesting quail are attracted by the
previous year's vegetation.

A number of Calhoun County farmers reported that they
avoided damage to quail nests by raising the sickle bar as high as
practicable before they started mowing. Many of the nests, placed
as quail nests usually are in cup-shaped depressions, were not
touched by the mower with the sickle thus raised. In almost every
case in which the nest was not touched, the bird returned. Some
farmers prevented destruction of nests by raising the sickle bar by
means of the hand lever when quail flushed in front of the mower.

Although there is a considerable loss of quail nests along
roadsides, these areas are attractive to nesting birds and should be
considered in any plan to increase the quail population. Many miles
of country roadside were mowed in 1938 to improve the appearance and
to control weed plants. However, the vegetation of many roadsides
consists of grasses and other herbaceous vegetation which are not
weecs and which do not detract from the appearance. Farmers and
township road commissioners may find it feasible to leave stretches
of roadside unmolested, or at least to postpone mowing until after
July 4, a date past the peak of the quail nesting season in Calhoun
and neighboring counties.

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