Responses of Wild Pheasants to Solid-Block Applications of Aldrin

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Abstract
The responses of wild pheasants (Phasianus eolchieus) to single, aerial applications of 2 lb technical aldrin (granular form) per acre on a 12,450- and a 29,880-acre block of farmland in eastern Illinois in April of 1960 and 1961, respectively, were divided into 3 major stages. First, the mortality of adult pheasants within a month of aldrin application was from 25 to 50 percent. Second, reproduction by surviving pheasants was severely depressed in the year of aldrin application as evidenced by the meager abundance of chicks and the abnormally high proportion (52-56 percent) of broodless hens in summer, the low ratio (relative to the untreated study area) of young per adult hen in autumn, and reduced numbers of cock-calls the following spring. Third-satisfactory reproduction occurred on the treated areas during the breeding season following the year of aldrin application. Adequate recovery of pheasant populations in farmland habitat can be expected within 2-3 years after single, solid-block applications of 2 lb aldrin per acre if (1) the areas treated are not so large as to prevent adequate re-population by ingress from adjacent, untreated habitat, and (2)the pheasants on the adjacent, untreated land area maintain their population levels.

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