WEST VIRGINIA MAMMALS — KELLOGG 451 



While collecting along the Guyandotte River in Logan County, we 

 received reports that black bears are occasionally killed in the sur- 

 rounding mountains. Reports indicate that bears are still fairly 

 abundant in the eastern counties, especially in timbered lands over- 

 grown with thickets. During 1936 they were rather common around 

 Cranberry Glades, in the mountains along Williams River, in the 

 vicinity of Cheat Mountain. Numerous tracks were seen on Middle 

 Mountain during July 1936. On July 4, 1936, a black bear killed six 

 sheep belonging to a resident of Middle Mountain. Another resident 

 of Middle Mountain is reported to have killed 14 bears during the 

 winter of 1934-35. On September 21, 1936, while collecting on Spruce 

 Kjiob, \V. M. Perrygo was told that a bear had killed several sheep 

 during the preceding night. 



Periodical "game drives" on the Monongahela National Forest 

 supervised by forest rangers have furnished some interesting data on 

 the relative abundance of some of the larger mammals. According 

 to Arthur A. Wood, forest supervisor, the method of obtaining these 

 tallies is as follows: 12 sample plots of 160 acres each have been 

 established at various points within the Monongahela Forest bound- 

 aries, and each area is sj^stematically "driven" by 120 men, four 

 times each year. Of these 120 men, at least half form the "drivers' " 

 line and the rest are stationed at equal distances around the drive 

 boundaries of the area to count the game. At a prearranged signal 

 the drivers' lines advance from one end of the area to the other, 

 driving through the stationary lines all the larger mammals found 

 on the area. On the basis of the data thus obtained the mean abund- 

 ance of the species is calculated. By this method it has been found 

 that black bears are most abundant in the drive areas located in the 

 northern hardwood timber on the Little River drainage in northern 

 Pocahontas County. The forest records show a yearly mean popu- 

 lation of 1 bear to each 993 acres in this section. For the entire 

 forest, the calculation is 1 bear to each 2,518 acres. 



Randolph Coixnty: Cheat Mountain, 1. 



Family PROCYONIDAE 



PROCYON LOTOR LOTOR (Linnaeus) 



Raccoon 

 No specimens of this fairly common fur bearer have been received 

 from West Virginia by the National Museum. I have examined, 

 however, the skin of a raccoon killed during 1936 near Williams River, 

 5 miles east of Black Mountain, Pocahontas County. Raccoon tracks 

 were found along the Guyandotte River near Barboursville in Cabell 

 County and along the Ohio River near Point Pleasant in Mason 

 County during April 1936. Trappers working along the Cranberry 

 River near the glades say that the raccoons live in dens in the rocks 

 and rarely are found in hollow trees. 



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