m THE WILD RICE FIELDS. 37 1 



ment, whether expressed in law or not, bring back the 

 primeval solitude of those swamps and river bottoms 

 which was such an important condition in such scenes 

 as I have described. Those vast stretches of timber, 

 broken only by ponds and their margins of mud and 

 reeds, or by the long lines of the winding sloughs, those 

 wide reaches of open land covered with wavy grass or 

 reeds, cut with sloughs or broken by rush- fringed ponds 

 of acres and acres in extent, over all of which one could 

 see no sign of civilization save an occasional road, and 

 hear none of the sounds of progress, save once in a 

 while the far-off puff of the high-pressure steamer that 

 was trailing its sooty banner along the distant sky, can 

 never be restored. 



CORNFIELD SHOOTING IN THE MIDDLE WEST. 



In the fall of the year, after the crops have been gath- 

 ered, and when the migrating birds begin to make their 

 appearance, they resort to the cornfields to feed on the 

 grain scattered about on the ground. 



When harvesting the corn crop in Illinois it is the 

 practice to drive a wagon through the field, and to pull 

 the ears from the standing stalks and toss them into the 

 wagon. Now and then an ear falls on the ground be- 

 neath the wagon and is not picked up, or strikes some 

 portion of the wood or iron and knocks off a few grains, 

 or a little loose corn sifts out through the bottom of the 

 wagon box. This loose corn lying about, attracts the 



