MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Vol. 3, No. 5 
Page 3 
predation on the upland study area is much greater this year than during the previous 
2 years. Flooding of the lowland areas this year which caused the raccoons to leave 
the bottoms and congregate on the upland areas probably influenced this increase. 
One nest was destroyed by a raccoon which gained entrance to the cavity despite a 
band of "Tanglefoot" which had been applied to the tree trunk. Raccoons are known 
to have gained entrance to two unoccupied cavities in other trees banded with 
"Tanglefoot", but in one of these a female and her litter were present when the 
tree was banded. 
W-61-R-3 F. Greeley, J. Ellis 
Sixty-two hen pheasants fed varying amounts of calcium and phosphorus 
from March 8 to May 30, laid 1,524 eggs in 3,522 hen-days from April 1 to May 30. 
Eleven hens died during May, nine of which were being fed the lowest amount of 
calcium. 
The design of the experiment required the feeding of three levels of 
calcium (0.75, 1.50 and 2.00 per cent of the ration) combined with three ?.evels 
of total phosphorus (1.00, 2.00 and 3.00 per cent of the ration). Chemical 
analyses of the rations showed considerable digression of the actual amounts of 
calcium and phosphorus from the planned rations. Table 1. The discrepancies 
probably came about through faulty measurement of components of the diet or in 
mixing of the components, or through errors in sampling for the chemical analysis. 
Re-sampling of the diets and re-analysis is planned. The egg-laying rates shown 
in Table 1 indicate that the amount of calcium in the rations was probably as 
indicated by the chemical analyses. 
Table 1. —Egg Production of Hen Pheasants with Different Percentages of 
Calcium and Phosphorus in their Diets (Eggs/Hen/l0 Days). 
Calcium:Phosphorus 
(Per Cent) 
April 
May 
1-10 
11-20 
21-30 
1-10 
11-20 
21-30 
0.3:0.7 
0.3 
0.7 
1.0 
0.3 
1.0 
1.0 
0.4:1.0 
0.5 
0.5 
0.4 
0.6 
1.4 
1.0 
0.3:1.1 
0.0 
0.7 
0.9 
0.7 
0.7 
0,9 
1.8:1.0 
0.2 
4.1 
8.1 
8.4 
9.1 
8.4 
1.7:1.0 
1.2 
5.4 
6.8 
6.4 
7.1 
7.3 
1.8:1.3 
0.7 
4.8 
7.4 
5.8 
7.8 
5.0 
2.1:0.4 
0.8 
4.7 
7.6 
6.0 
8.4 
7.4 
Table continued on next page 
