. Bulletin. Natural history; Natural history. May, 1943 Yeatter: Prairie Chicken in Illinois 389 In autumn and winter the birds select redtop stubble, idle grasslands or low weed growth, sometimes only 2 or 3 inches tall, fig. 9. On windy or cold evenings the adult birds, as well as the young, often select slight depressions or furrows for protection. Nesting Cover.—During the sum- mers of 1935 and 1936 all types of nest- ing cover on the 4-square-mile Jasper County area were searched carefully to determine as accurately as possible the actual use of each type of cover. Although prairie chicke
. Bulletin. Natural history; Natural history. May, 1943 Yeatter: Prairie Chicken in Illinois 389 In autumn and winter the birds select redtop stubble, idle grasslands or low weed growth, sometimes only 2 or 3 inches tall, fig. 9. On windy or cold evenings the adult birds, as well as the young, often select slight depressions or furrows for protection. Nesting Cover.—During the sum- mers of 1935 and 1936 all types of nest- ing cover on the 4-square-mile Jasper County area were searched carefully to determine as accurately as possible the actual use of each type of cover. Although prairie chickens in southeast- ern Illinois nest in a variety qf sites, they show a preference for short grass cover with scattered growths of brambles and herbaceous plants such as are found in waste areas of bluegrass, Poa pratensis Linnaeus, and old stands of redtop, Agros- tis alba Linnaeus. The sites of 39 nests under observation on and near the Jasper County study area may be classified as follows. Redtop Fields.—Redtop, which during the period of this study occupied nearly 30 per cent of the Jasper County study area, presents a larger acreage of potential nesting cover than any other kind of vege- tation. As previously intimated, new seed- ings apparently are used less often than old stands. In 1935, when much farm land had been out of cultivation for 2 or more years, because of low agricultural prices, numerous idle fields had developed sufficient grass and dead vegetation to make them attractive nest sites. Conse- quently, redtop was less generally used then than in 1936 and later when some of the idle fields were put back into culti- vation. Fourteen of the 39 nests under observation were in redtop fields. Fallow Fields and Pastures.—In addi- tion to fallow fields, this classification in- cludes a small acreage of pasture land, amounting to about 1 per cent of the total study area, pasture land invaded by brambles or having spots of low sedge growth. The remaining pasture lan
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