MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Vol. 2, No. 1 
Page 2 
The combined total number of waterfowl was: mallards, U6l,000; black 
ducks, 6,000; canvasbacks, 7,200; redheads, 500 ; lesser scaups, 3,600; ring-necked 
ducks, 200; golden eye, 10,000; old squaw, 1*,900; American merganzer, 26,000; snow 
goose, 500; blue goose, 1,500; Canada goose, 2014 , 000 . 
There were about 70,000 more ducks and 55,000 more geese in Illinois on 
the January, 1959 census than the 1958 census disclosed. 
W-56-R-3 G. Sanderson, K. Johnson 
During the 1958-59 hunting season a hunter reported that most of the 
raccoons he caught on the Allerton Park study area in Piatt County had something 
wrong with their lungs. A few raccoons from the area x-jere examined and found to 
have from one-tenth to nine-tenths of their lung surfaces adhering to the rib cages. 
Sone lungs contained large, pus-filled sacs. A young-of-the-year male (No. Ilt7) 
which weighed 3.5 poxinds when first live-trapped on June 27, 1958, killed by a 
hunter about December 28th had lungs stuck to its rib cage and showed typical 
symptoms of pneumonia. Another young-of-the-year male (No. 19U) caught in a steel 
trap approximately 7 airline miles from inhere it was marked on September i;, 1958 
and killed on January 6, 1959, had lxongs containing some large granulatous and 
caseous masses, and ova of a lung fluke, Paragonimus sp. 
During the 1958-59 hunting season, bands and returns were received from 
19 marked and U8 xmmarked raccoons killed on the area, and one marked individual 
killed nearby. A total of 103 raccoons, including 10 that were first marked in 
1957, were handled on the study area in 1958. Fourteen of these were knovm to 
have been killed in 1958. 
This gives an estimate of 156 raccoons per section or a total estimate 
of 382 raccoons on the 1,565-acre study area in the fall of 1958. 
Returns were received from lU.5 per cent of the 103 raccoons handled on 
the study area in 1958. The harvest would doubtlessly have been much higher than 
this had not the xonseasonably cold weather in early December drastically curtailed 
raccoon hxmting activities. 
In 1957, 56 raccoons were marked on the study area. Ten of these were 
killed during the 1957-58 hxinting season and 5 dxxring the 1958-59 season. This 
means that approximately 27 per cent of the raccoons marked in 1957 were killed by 
hxinters in the two subsequent hxxnting seasons. 
An inspection of the natxxral cavities was begxm during the report period 
to determine what per cent of the cavities are occupied dxrring the xd.nter. The 
inclement weather prevented the completion of this inspection. With all except two 
woodlots checked, the following results were obtained: 
Cavities 
Cavities 
Per cent 
Occupancy 
Checked 
Occupied 
Occupied 
Raccoon 
Per Cent 
Squirrel Per Cent j Bees 
Per Cent 
79 
7 
8.8 
5 
6.U 
1 1.2 1 
1.2 
