MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Vol. 1, No. 5 
Page 3 
Of 56 raccoons marked on this study area in 1957 > 19 animals (3U per 
cent) have been accounted for. Hunters harvested 10 (18 per cent) and 9 have 
been retrapped this year* 
Thirty-five opossum captures were made on the study area during the 
month. These represented 21 different animals and lU recaptures. Six males 
and six females were caught for the first time and nine were recaptures. A total 
of 6k of "pouch-young" in eight litters have been toe-clipped this year* 
Two litters of raccoons were born in captivity to females which had 
been previously examined by laparatomies* 
To determine whether captive raccoons which do not voluntarily mate 
a second time in the same season can be "forced" to do so, captive females were 
injected with pregnant mare serum (P*M*S.) which contains both follicle-stimu¬ 
lating hormone and luteinizing hormone. One female raccoon treated with this 
serum apparently ovulated many eggs as indicated by the presence of 16-18 corpora 
lutea in each ovary. Further investigation is necessary before this technique 
is refined enough to cause ovulation and implantation at will in the raccoon* 
W-61-R-1 F. Greeley, J. Ellis 
The rural mail carrier pheasant counts for January and April 1958 
were placed on IBM cards so that population indices for 1,261 townships can now 
be computed by machine* Editing of three pheasant counts made in 1957 was nearly 
completed, and recording of the data on punch cards was begun. Programming for 
classification of the township pheasant population indices by soil regions was 
also initiated to permit computation of population indices for each region. 
The project leader made a li-day trip to survey the pheasant range in 
Indiana, May 19-22. The best pheasant range in Indiana consisted of soils and 
habitat extending for short distances into Indiana from Illinois, Michigan, and 
Ohio; it supported far less birds than are found at the Sibley study area. The 
forest soils lying between the areas of best range support very few pheasants, 
especially in the absence of willow-cattail sloughs. 
Crowing activity of pheasants decreased on the Neoga and Bellmont 
areas as the month progressed* Counts taken the first week of May at Neoga 
averaged 1.75 calls per stop, and 0.92 the last week. At Pellmont, an average 
of 3*3 cock calls per stop was recorded May 9 9 and 1.9 on May 16. The peak of 
crowing on both areas occurred in mid-April. At Neoga, 2.69 cock calls per 
stop were recorded April 12. At Pellmont 5»7 were recorded April 18. 
