56 



7. The c'oniuion Anuiicaii deer. Ccmacus vir(/iniuiitii<, was onee very iibtiiidant 

 in the county. The following is one of Lake's historic records : "'When putting 

 on the roof of the Rockwell house in Crown Point, V. Holton and others saw, 

 coming out from Brown's Point and passing out across the prairie to School Grove, 

 a drove of deer, one bounding after the other, according to their hest count in 

 number one hundred and eleven." 



I never myself saw so many at one time, hut I have ridden in among tiiem by 

 night and have seen them by day in numbers sufficient to delight the eyes of a 

 hunter or of a naturalist. But not one can now be found on these five hundred 

 miles of area. Several years ago there was a cold, liard winter. The snow was 

 •tjuite deep, and on the snow came what is called a crust. ( )n the top of the crust 

 the dogs, the boys and the men pursued the almost helpless deer and slaughtered 

 them without mercy. Few survived, and now, as I have said, of these beautiful 

 juiimals and of the spotted fawn that could be seen in the spring time, in all the 

 island groves and wild pastures there is left not one. 



8. The habitat of the timber wolf, Ca7ii-< lupun, extended into the south- 

 «?astera part of Lake C!ounty, into what is called Eagle Creek Township. These 

 Ihave been considered as not actual denizens for fifty years, but a few individuals 

 have made occasional visits, some in 1872, and three or four in 1893, one of whicii 

 was killed by Mr. O. Dinwiddle, of Plum Grove. 



9. The bald eagle, Haiiaetiis leucocephalus, once a native, for a nest of this 

 urand bird, perhaps its last, was found in 183o in the eastern part of the county, 

 and gave name to a stream and the stream to a township, I name next, as now 

 extinct. One fine specimen of this species that wai shot on my fathers place at 

 < -edar Lake in 1857, measured from tip to tip of its outstretched wings seven and 

 :\ half feet. It is possible that one may now and then tly for an hour over the 

 southern shore of Lake Michigan, but they do not sit now, as in boyhood I used 

 to see them, on the great oaks at Cedar Lake to watch the fish hawks; their native 

 home is in the county of Lake no more. 



10. I name, last, a reptile that the citizens of Lake may well hope has become 

 extinct, although possibly some few yet linger amid the growing civilization, tlie 

 <_'round rattle snake, perhaps Crotalux horndus, quite poisonous, and tifty years ago 

 vcrv abundant. I had a dog that disposed of other snakes, l>ut wiien he found 

 one of these he backed out and kept away. The last one that 1 saw was killed 



nine four years ago. 



It is not always easy to trace a border line, and some other species I might 

 ciill extinct of which a few individuals may still be found, but in addition to these 

 ten species, some of which made not a little wild life, I will name as approaching 



