Does nesting cover limit abundance of ring-necked pheasants in North America?

Abstract

I examined the hypothesis that availability of suitable nesting cover is a major limiting factor for North American pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) populations. North American technical publications about pheasant nesting for 1933-1990 were reviewed and categorized to 8 habitat types and 3 methods of nest detection. I extracted comparable variables for available habitat, nesting, and hatching. Occurrence of pheasant nests in different habitats relative to habitat availability differed among methods used to locate nests. High- and low-density pheasant populations did not differ in proportion of nests in different habitats or proportion of successful nests among habitats. Analyses did not support the hypothesis examined. An alternative hypothesis of territory cover as a limiting factor is discussed