We determined the fates of artificial and natural bird nests in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields in northeastern Kansas from mid May through early August 1994. The CRP fields had been planted to native grasses in 1988 or 1989. Artificial nests contained Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) or house sparrow (Passer domesticus) eggs in nest baskets in bunchgrass clumps to simulate nests of dickcissels (Spiza americana), the most common avian species nesting in the CRP fields. Natural dickcissel nests were found by rope dragging and intensive searches of the CRP fields. Losses among 562 artificial nests did not differ by egg type; however, the 9.8% loss of artificial nests was significantly lower than the 70.1% loss-level among 97 natural dickcissel nests in those CRP fields. The daily survival rate for artificial nests was 0.99, significantly more than the 0.92 for natural dickcissel nests. An assessment of nest depredation based on data from artificial nests might not be representative of depredation on natural nests in grasslands.