. Distribution and abundance of pheasants in Illinois. Pheasants; Birds. licrs in Illinois for small areas (townships) and for any one season (winter, spring, or summer). However, be- cause the variable factors did not difTer greatly during the 2 years of the censuses, they are regarded as having little influence on the reliability of the population trends that are presented for the Illinois pheasant range as a whole. DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE DATA The range of the pheasant in Illinois, as mapped by Wagner & Resadny (1958:5). is part of a more or less continuous belt of wild populations e
. Distribution and abundance of pheasants in Illinois. Pheasants; Birds. licrs in Illinois for small areas (townships) and for any one season (winter, spring, or summer). However, be- cause the variable factors did not difTer greatly during the 2 years of the censuses, they are regarded as having little influence on the reliability of the population trends that are presented for the Illinois pheasant range as a whole. DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE DATA The range of the pheasant in Illinois, as mapped by Wagner & Resadny (1958:5). is part of a more or less continuous belt of wild populations extending from southeastern Wisconsin through northeastern and east- central Illinois, northern Indiana, southern Michigan, and eastward into Ohio and Pennsylvania, fig. 9. From Illinois eastward to the Atlantic Coast, the approximate southern limit of the range as reported by ^'eatter (1953:7) is marked by the 40th parallel; the 40th par- allel can be located in fig. 9 by extending the Kansas- Nebraska line eastward. Most of the range occupied by pheasants in Illinois is north of the 40th parallel, but some pheasants are found south of this line, principally in Champaign, Douglas, Vermilion, and Edgar counties. Robertson (1958:2-5) traced the early introduction of pheasants by private individuals in Illinois back to 1890 and reported that pheasants were first distributed In the state by the Illinois Game Commission (now Illi- nois Department of Conservation) in 1906. The early optimism of the Illinois legislature in opening the first hunting season for pheasants in 1915 reflected the grow- ing availability of the bird either from game-farm re- leased pheasants or localized wild populations. The first map of the distribution of pheasants in Illinois and .several other north-central states was com- piled by Leopold (:106) from data accumulated during 1928 and 1929. A reproduction of the Illinois portion of this map, modified to show only the general distribution of pheasants
Size: 2006px × 1246px
Photo credit: © Paul Fearn / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookpubl, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectpheasants
