34 GAME-BIRDS AT HOME. 



he stays through the molting period and is 

 easily found, when so hard to find in the East. 

 In the bottoms of most of the western rivers, 

 especially the Illinois, woodcock were once very 

 abundant. When the scarlet of the cardinal- 

 flower began to blaze along the wet banks, and 

 the little grass of Parnassus to uplift its creamy 

 petals along the marshes, the whistling wing 

 could be heard almost anywhere in the bottoms. 

 Where the soft blue trumpets of the mimulus 

 were reflected in sluggish water he dodged away 

 in a twinkling into the grove of willow that lined 

 it ; from the deep shades of the thickets he 

 flashed up into the canopy of green ; from the 

 serried spears of cat-tails and rushes he sprung at 

 midday as well as in the evening; and even from 

 the open edges of the ponds where the receding 

 waters had stranded the bright blue spikes of the 

 pickerel-weed he circled over the adjoining trees. 

 But the best shooting, combining ease of travel 

 with attractive surroundings and healthy air, was 

 on the bottoms of the upper Mississippi before 

 so much of the timber was cut away, and when 

 the sloughs were clear instead of muddy and full 

 of sawdust. When the canoe left the river, it 



