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by the woodman's axe. a bit of forest in its primeval state still 

 shelters a thick swampy undergrowth. The soil remains wet 

 and soft throughout the summer season, and here where the 

 woodcock may penetrate its oozy depths with his long soft man- 

 dible he feels at home. When the last of these wild spots of 

 nature is gone, then will the woodcock be no more. 



The passenger pigeon is gone, and now it does not lie with- 

 in our power to bring back the magnificent flocks that used to 

 darken the sun for our ancestors. Perhaps my hearers have 

 noticed the desperate eflforts that are recently being made in 

 behalf of the passenger pigeon. Offers of hundreds of dollars 

 are made to the public, not for the dead body of this now rare 

 bird, but merely for the evidence that a single one is in the 

 land of the living. Excellent motive, but too late ! too late ! 

 Wise legislation a score of years ago would have prevented 

 this fine bird from extinction. 



We of Illinois have an apportunity to improve upon the lax 

 methods of twenty years ago. This is the age of conservation 

 of resources. We have tasted of the fruits of carelessness. Are 

 we to learn from experience? 



The past months of December and January, with their ab- 

 normal periods of ice and snow, have wrought sad havoc among 

 the quail of the north Mississippi valley. It is doubtful if any 

 season of recent years has proved so disastrous as the one just 

 past. Reports from all over the state tell the same pitiful story 

 of covey upon covey of bobwhites found huddled together, all 

 dead. 



I think it is obvious to us all that without protection for the 

 bobwhite at this stage for a period of three years at least, we 

 shall be in danger of losing for all time this valuable citizen. 



Through the protection of the prairie chicken during recent 

 years, this part of Illinois (at least Champaign county) may 

 claim a very appreciable increase in numbers. Just as they 

 are geting a good start, we are confronted with the knowledge 

 that the protective clause expires on July 1st of next year. 

 Listen while I tell you of a secret. Within six miles of the 

 University of Illinois, at this moment there is a grand fiock of 



