MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Vol. 1, No. 1 
Page 3 
W-56-R-2 G. Sanderson, K. Johnson 
Examination and marking of cavities continued on the raccoon-wood duck 
study areas at Havana. The locations of all trees i-dth hollows observable from 
the ground have been recorded. The number of trees containing cavities suitable 
for wood ducks and raccoons marked thus far is as follows: Rountree Area - 7* 
Lakewood Area - 6, Heye Area - 1, Daniels Area - 6, and Headquarters Area - 6. 
Visits were made to 20 furbuyers in 16 counties for the purpose of 
collecting raccoon bacula and getting data concerning furbuyers and the fur trade. 
Buyers contributed approximately 2,700 bacula for the study of age ratios. Thus 
far, I,9li5 of these bones have been cleaned and the age determined. Of these 
68.8 per cent were from young-of-the-year raccoons. Last year 70.1 oer cent of 
3,U88 bones examined during the entire season were from juveniles. 
A preliminary tabulation was made of the sex-ratio data collected during 
the 1957-58 season. It reveals that 5l.k per cent of L71 raccoons were females. 
There were U7 parous females (29.8 percent) among 158 females examined. During 
the 1956-57 season, females comprised U8.lt per cent of 2, 222 raccoons and 27.1 
per cent of 299 females were parous. 
None of these data, age ratio, sex ratio or percentage of oarous females, 
appear to indicate a decline in the Illinois raccoon population at this time. 
Two dead raccoons were found near Bloomington by a hunter-cooperator on 
January 6, 1958. The cooperator brought these animals to the University of Illinois 
diagnostic laboratory. These animals had six micrograms of lead per gram of liver 
tissue, a toxic amount. Also seen in these animals were n intracytoplasmic and 
intranuclear inclusions, similar to those seen in canine distemper.” One sick 
young-of-the-year male raccoon caught in McLean County died in captivity 2 days 
after capture. This animal was negative for rabies and through an oversight in 
the diagnostic laboratory no further tests were made. From the symptoms exhibited, 
however, it seemed probable that this animal also died of lead poisoning. 
W-61-R-1 F. Greeley, J. Ellis 
A survey was designed for the xrlnter pheasant count on the Neoga area. 
The area was divided into 512 plots, each UO acres in size, and 10U of them were 
selected at random to be searched for pheasants. The sample was weighted according 
to the distribution of pheasants on the area. Ten sections were censused at the 
rate of 1 plot per section, and the remaining 23 sections were censused at the rate 
of U plots per section. The time required to search the plots was 72.75 man hours. 
Twenty-four pheasants (20 hens :U cocks) were observed on the plots. These data have 
not been analysed statistically, but because about 20 per cent of the area was 
censused, the estimate for the entire study area would be roughly five times the 
number of pheasants observed, or 100 hens and 20 cocks. In addition to pheasants, 
three coveys of quail (totalling 3 h birds) and 122 rabbits were observed during the 
course of the census. 
