64 ADAPTATION OF FOODS TO SOIL, ETC. 
throughout the state of Illinois, once teeming with 
wildfowl the roar of whose wings could be heard for 
miles, has gone into history as a thing of the past; the 
only shooting of any account being above the St. 
Charles Flats, north of St. Louis, between the Missis- 
sippi and the Illinois rivers, or along the border coun- 
ties of the Wabash flight. Stopping spring shooting 
and propagating new or restoring old grounds in a 
similar manner to that the fish commissioners are now 
using afford the only remedies I can suggest to induce 
the birds to drop in, roost, feed or play a short time, 
instead of passing over. Cultivation, drainage, in- 
crease of population and railways have certainly been 
ereat agents in causing this sad duck loss; although, 
shooting before sunrise and after sunset, and long 
shots upon the hazard of chances have done their 
share in days past. 
