SECONDARY COMMUNITIES 15 



20a). Panthers and wildcats were found occasionally in the forests (20a). 

 Beavers and otters, once numerous, had almost gone (20). Among the 

 rodents, the varying hare disappeared about 1834. 



In 1838 timber wolves and coyotes were still numerous (20a). The 

 deer was the most common prey of the timber wolf, but these failing, they 

 attacked sheep, pigs, calves, poultry, and even young colts (20). For 

 some time the increase of wolves kept pace with the increase of live 

 stock. Reptiles were most common in the heavily timbered country. 

 As this was cleared, they disappeared, while the prairie reptiles were 

 destroyed largely by prairie fires. 



The coyote disappeared about 1844, while the timber wolf did not 

 entirely disappear until about ten years later (22). The red fox, quite 

 common at one time along Lake Michigan, also disappeared from this 

 locality, about this time, although still found occasionally throughout 

 the state. The gray fox, once quite common, was no longer to be seen 

 after 1854 (22). The black bear and badger had entirely disappeared at 

 the same date, although the latter was still common farther south (22). 

 The fisher, formerly seen frequently in the heavy timber along Lake 

 Michigan, was no longer to be found. The mink, skunk, otter, and 

 weasel were still common (22). 



The pocket gopher and the badger, once very abundant, were very 

 rare in 1854 (22). The Canada lynx and wildcat were still abundant, 

 but of the panthers a single individual was known to have been seen in 

 Cook County previous to 1854 (22). The decline and disappearance of the 

 carnivores was followed by the greatest abundance of the deer. Accord- 

 ing to Wood (21) the deer began to disappear from Central Illinois about 

 1865 and had totally disappeared in 1870. Their disappearance from 

 Cook County probably antedated this. The opossum, at one time not 

 uncommon in this vicinity, was now rare except in Southern Illinois. 

 The only trace left of beavers was the remains of their dams in several 

 streams (22). 



4. RECOGNIZABLE SECONDARY COMMUNITIES 



We may recognize the following communities in the order of their 

 degree of difference from the primeval ones: 



a) Communities of roadside, fence-row , and abandoned field vegetation. 

 — These are composed chiefly of animals which commonly inhabit weeds 

 and thickets along the edges of woods. Since these are most nearly 

 like the thicket or forest-margin communities treated in chap, xiii, 

 they are not discussed here. 



