86 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 18-N0. 6 



My collecting boxes are subdivided cigar 

 boxes lined with woolen blanketing. The 

 appartments are then filled with cotton. I 

 also carry some sheets of paper to wrap any 

 birds I may secure, and a small tin box filled 

 with bran. This latter I dust in the eyes 

 and mouth and brush about the vent and 

 the shot wound before plugging with cotton. 



As a collecting gun I have used of late 

 years a single barrel, twelve gauge, semi- 

 hammerless. This " swings " just right and 

 I prefer it to my double barrel for collecting 

 purposes. It weighs just seven and a quarter 

 pounds. I generally carry about a dozen 

 shells loaded with "dust" and a few loaded 

 with larger shot. 



Last but not least comes the question of 

 lunch. On this subject opinions must vary, 

 and for my part I am willing that they should. 

 When I am to be gone from daybreak until 

 dark I carry a couple of boiled eggs and four 

 slices of buttered bread. This is usually 

 sufficient for my wants, but when it is not I 

 stop at some farmhouse and regale myself on 

 doughnuts and milk. Thus I travel. 



Arthur J/ Farmer. 



.'\moskeag, N.H. 



An Old-time Outing. 



At the time described in the following 

 sketch, the Wild Turkey was still to be found 

 in great numbers in certain parts of Illinois. 

 The Virginia or Red Deer was also at this time 

 to be found, but in greatly reduced numbers. 

 At the present time probably not a dozen 

 Wild Turkeys can be found within a radius 

 of ten miles and the Deer has been extinct 

 for many years. It is with a feeling of regret 

 that the writer recalls the fact that he con- 

 tributed his mite towards exterminating this 

 noblest of America's game birds. Between 

 the year 1863 and 1875 not less than three 

 hundred Turkeys fell victims to his wood- 

 craft and marksmanship. 



Perhaps not even in their palmiest days, 

 could the famous hunting grounds of Ten- 



nessee and Kentucky excel those of Central 

 Illinois for their abundance of wild game. 

 A half century ago, the valley of the Illi- 

 nois river, with its tributaries the Sangamon, 

 Spoon, and Rock rivers, simply teemed with 

 Deer, Turkey and smaller game. 



There was one particular locality, to which 

 this article will be confined, that was espe- 

 cially a paradise for the hunter and sports- 

 man. It was called "California Bend," and 

 was formed by the junction of the Spoon 

 with the Illinois river. In the angle formed 

 by these streams grew one of the finest for- 

 ests in the United States. The trees were 

 principally of the shell-bark hickory and the 

 pecan, along with more or less of the water 

 elm, sycamore, ash and silver-leaved maple. 

 Underneath and in the more open spaces were 

 thickets of persimmon bushes, and around 

 the little lakes the pawpaw, the only repre- 

 sentatixe of the fruits of the tropical south 

 found growing in the northern clime, was also 

 to be found in considerable numbers. 



Thompson's Lake, five miles long and one 

 mile in average breadth, bounded this forest 

 on the north. 



In the fall of the year the Wild Turkeys 

 would flock to this bottom region and, feast- 

 ing upon the pecans, wild grapes and the 

 abundance of insect life, would grow very fat. 



Many years ago, when yet in his teens, 

 the writer accompanied by his father and 

 a neighbor named Cameron, both famous 

 hunters and dead shots with the rifle, resorted 

 to this " Bend " for a three days hunt. Arriv- 

 ing just at sunset after a drive of twenty 

 miles we camped for the night in close prox- 

 imity to an immense sycamore, known to 

 many hunters who had visited this region 

 as the "great bee tree." The time was early 

 in November, and the weather was pleasant 

 and the evening balmy. Tents were not so 

 common then as now, but having plenty of 

 blankets and comforters with us, we soon 

 improvised a very satisfactory shelter; fas- 

 tening a couple of blankets along the top 

 side of a great fallen tree trunk and pegging 



