MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Vol. 1, No. 8 
Page 2 
young-of-the-year males trapped for the first time. Two males, both young-of- 
the-year, were recaptured. 
Thirty opossum captures, representing 18 different animals, were made. 
One adult male and one adult female were caught for the first time. Four adult 
females previously marked were retrapped, two of them one time each, one of 
them four times and one of them eight times. No pouch-young were found in any 
of the five adult females trapped. 
Nine young-of-the-year opossi’ms, six females and three males, were 
trapped away from their mothers for the first time and three young-of-the-year 
males were recaptured. Of the twelve young-of-the-year opossums, five had 
been toe-clipped while in their mothers' pouches indicating that approximately 
UO per cent of the young opossums on the study area were marked before leaving 
their mothers. These were tagged with individual numbers when retrapped. 
Male and female raccoon reproductive organs were sectioned, stained 
and mounted on slides for histological examination to learn more about the 
reproductive cycle and relationship of the number of placental scars to number 
of young born. 
The raccoon-wood duck study was inactive during the period; Kenneth 
Johnson returned to school for the summer term. Sanderson was on annual leave 
August Li-22. 
W-61-R-2 F. Greeley, J. Ellis 
Rural mail carriers counted pheasants along their routes from August 
18-22; U4I8 report cards were mailed out to post offices having rural routes; 
approximately 900 returns (67 per cent) had been received as of August 29. The 
report cards are being edited for IBM processing. The count made by the rural 
mail carriers this month was the sixth to be conducted during 1957 and 1958. 
The data from these six counts will be used to compare the environment in the 
pheasant range with the abundance of the birds. 
During August the ash content of the femur bones of 65 hen pheasants 
was determined as part of a study of the influence of soil calcium on pheasant 
distribution. The bones were obtained from dead hen pheasants picked up along 
roadsides by biologists, wardens and research project personnel. Most of the 
birds were obtained from the Sibley area in Ford County but there were one or 
more birds from 18 other counties. All but four of the hens were killed between 
January 1 and July 1. The data will be analized for geographic and seasonal 
variations. 
From all indications, the "California” pheasant population at Neoga 
has produced more broods in 1958 than in 1957. Twenty-five per cent more broods 
have been located on the Neoga area this year when compared with 1957. Eleven 
broods were observed or reported by farmers during August bringing the total number 
