The Breeding Birds of Kansas Part 6

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 5 eggs (5.2, 3-7; 14).

Nests are placed on the ground surface in gra.s.sy cover.

=Peregrine Falcon=: _Falco peregrinus anatum_ Bonaparte.--This falcon nested, perhaps regularly but clearly in small numbers, in Kansas prior to the 20th Century. The best doc.u.mented breeding occurrence was at Neosho Falls, Woodson County (Goss, 1891:283).

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs were recorded as being laid in February and March.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 3 or 4 eggs (Davie, 1898).

Nests are placed relatively high on cliffs and in trees; at Neosho Falls these birds used open cavities 50 to 60 feet high in sycamores.

=Sparrow Hawk=: _Falco sparverius sparverius_ Linnaeus.--This is a common resident throughout Kansas, in parkland and woodland edge.

_Breeding schedule._--Thirteen records of egg-laying span the period March 21 to May 20; the modal date of laying is not evident in this sample but it probably falls around April 10.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 4 eggs (4.2, 3-5; 5).

Nests are placed in cavities about 16 feet high, actually 12 to 30 feet, in cottonwood, ash, maple, Purple Martin "houses," and human dwellings.

=Greater Prairie Chicken=: _Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus_ (Brewster).--This is a locally common resident in eastern Kansas, in and about bluestem prairie gra.s.sland, and is local in the northwest in undisturbed plains gra.s.sland. Wolfe (1961) reports that the species was common in Decatur County shortly after the turn of the Century, but that it became rare by 1914.

_Breeding schedule._--Twenty-one records of breeding span the period May 1 to June 10 (Fig. 3); the modal date for laying is May 5. The sample indicates an abrupt inception to laying of eggs, and this may be a reflection of timing characteristic of behavior at leks, or booming grounds.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 12 eggs (11.7, 9-15; 17).

Nests are placed on the surface of the ground in bluestem gra.s.sland or plains bunchgra.s.s, usually under cover of prairie gra.s.ses and forbs.

=Lesser Prairie Chicken=: _Tympanuchus pallidicinctus_ (Ridgway).--This is a local resident in sandy gra.s.sland in southwestern Kansas. Distribution is to the west and south of p.a.w.nee County.

_Breeding schedule._--There is no information on timing of the breeding season in Kansas.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is thought to be near that of the Greater Prairie Chicken. Vic Housholder (MS) observed a hen with ten chicks ten miles south of Dodge City, Ford County, on June 1, 1955.

=Bobwhite=: _Colinus virginia.n.u.s_ (Linnaeus).--This is a common resident in the east, but is local in western Kansas; occurrence is in broken woodland and other edge habitats. _C. v. virginia.n.u.s_ (Linnaeus) is found northeast of stations in Nemaha, Douglas, and Miami counties, and _C. v. taylori_ Lincoln is found in the remainder of the State.

_Breeding schedule._--Twenty-four records of breeding span the period May 1 to September 20 (Fig. 3); the modal date for first clutches is May 25. The long period of egg-laying after May probably includes both renesting efforts and true second nestings.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 13 eggs (12.8, 8-21; 22); in the present sample 16 eggs was the most frequent number.

Nests are placed on the surface of the ground at bases of bunch gra.s.ses, saplings, trees, or posts, under cover of prairie gra.s.ses, forbs, or small woody plants.

=Scaled Quail=: _Callipepla squamata pallida_ Brewster.--This is a locally common resident in southwestern Kansas, chiefly west of Clark County and south of the Arkansas River; preferred habitat seems to be in open, sandy prairie.

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid at least in May; the egg-season in Kansas is unlikely to be so prolonged as that of the Bobwhite; among other factors involved, the Scaled Quail in Kansas is at a northern extreme of its distribution, where suboptimal environmental conditions may occur relatively frequently.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is around 10 to 12 eggs.

Nests are placed on the ground surface under woody or herbaceous cover.

=Ring-necked Pheasant=: _Phasia.n.u.s colchicus_ Linnaeus.--This introduced resident is common in western Kansas, is local and uncommon in the east, and is found in agricultural land with scattered woody vegetation.

_Breeding schedule._--Eggs are laid at least in May.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is 10 to 12 eggs.

Nests are placed on the surface of the ground in woody or herbaceous cover.

=Wild Turkey=: _Meleagris gallopavo_ Linnaeus.--Turkeys formerly occurred as common residents in flood-plain woodland in eastern Kansas, and their distribution extended through the west in riparian woodland.

Present population in eastern and southern sectors are partly the result of introductions of birds from Missouri by humans in the 1950s.

Turkeys in southern Kansas are also present owing to natural dispersal along the Arkansas and Medicine Lodge rivers of birds native to and introduced into Oklahoma. No specimens of turkeys presently found in Kansas are available for examination but these birds probably are referable to _M. g. silvestris_ Vieillot, the trinomen applied to turkeys in Missouri and northeastern Oklahoma.

Turkeys from southern Texas recently have been liberated at several localities in southern Nebraska; turkeys seen in extreme northern Kansas are thus probably of these stocks. The name _M. g. intermedia_ Sennett is applicable to these birds.

_Breeding schedule._--No information is available on the egg-season in Kansas; turkeys have nested in southern Kansas within recent years, however.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is perhaps 12 eggs.

Nests are placed on the surface of the ground, usually well-concealed under woody vegetation.

=King Rail=: _Rallus elegans elegans_ Audubon.--This summer resident is locally common in marshlands. Nesting records or adults taken in the breeding season are from Cheyenne, Meade, Pratt, Stafford, Cloud, Riley, Douglas, Anderson, and Allen counties. Dates of arrival in spring are recorded from April 7 to April 28; the median date is April 18.

Departure in autumn is possibly as early as September in the north, but four records are in the period October 12 to November 25. The species occasionally can be found in winter (Douglas County, December 28, 1915).

_Breeding schedule._--Fourteen records of breeding span the period May 1 to July 20; the modal date for egg-laying is June 5.

_Number of eggs._--Clutch-size is about 10 eggs (9 to 12; 4 records).

Nests are placed on the surface of the ground, under gra.s.sy or woody cover.

=Virginia Rail=: _Rallus limicola limicola_ Vieillot.--This is an uncommon summer resident, presumably throughout the State. The one breeding record is from Morton County (May 24, 1950; Graber and Graber, 1951). Dates of spring arrival are from April 19 to May 18; dates of last observation in autumn are within the period September 1 to October 30. A few birds overwinter in the southern part of the State (Meade County, December and January).

_Breeding season._--Eggs are laid probably in May and June.

_Number of eggs._--Six to 12 eggs are laid (Davie, 1898).

Nests are placed in emergent aquatic plants, near the surface of the water.

=Sora=: _Porzana carolina_ (Linnaeus).--This is an uncommon summer resident in marshland. Nesting records or specimens taken in the breeding season come from Finney, Barton, Jefferson, Douglas, and Miami counties. First dates of observation in spring are from April 11 to May 9 (the median is May 1); dates when last observed in autumn are from September 30 to November 9 (the median is October 18).