MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Vol. 3, No. 10 
Page 3 
W-56-R-4 G. C. Sanderson 
From April through August 1960, raccoons and opossums were live trapped, 
ear-tagged, and released on the Allerton Park Study Area in Piatt County. 
Opossums in the pouch were marked by toe clipping. Beginning with September 1, 
all raccoons and opossums caught have been removed from the area in an attempt 
to reduce the populations on the study area. 
Prior to September 1, 14 adult male and 3 adult female raccoons were 
trapped, marked, and released. Since September 1, two of these males and two of 
these females have been removed. In addition, two unmarked females and one un¬ 
marked male, all adults, have been caught. Thus, 2 of 3 adult females live 
trapped prior to September 1 have been removed, but only 2 of 14 adult males have 
been removed. Young raccoons were not trapped before September 1 this year; how¬ 
ever, since that time nine young have been caught. These young are smaller than 
usual for this time of year. Their smaller size and the fact that none was 
trapped prior to September 1 suggests that unseasonably cold weather and snow de¬ 
layed the 1960 breeding season. 
Prior to September 1, 7 adult male and 12 adult female opossums were 
caught. Seventy-four young were toe-clipped in the pouches of these females, and 
21 unmarked, juvenile opossums were live trapped, marked, and released. Since 
September 1, 53 opossums have been trapped and removed from the area; 25 of these 
had been previously marked, either toe-clipped or ear-tagged. Thus, of 95 juven¬ 
ile opossums marked in 1960, 21 or 22 per cent have been removed, and 4 of 19 
adults, or 21 per cent of the marked adults, have been caught and removed. 
W-61-R-4 J. A. Ellis, W. L. Anderson 
The first attempt to night-light pheasants was made on the Neoga area. 
Thirty pheasants were captured in 5.5 hours of night-lighting in the field. Of 
the 30 birds captured, 7 (23 per cent) were cocks. The age ratio of the captured 
birds was 6.5 juveniles per adult. The four adult birds were wild-transplanted 
hens. In addition, 54 birds were flushed during night-lighting, and 21 (39 per 
cent) were cocks. Only one game farm bird was observed during the night-lighting 
operations. 
