SYMPOSIUM OX CONSERVATION 47 



mink and the muskral* remain in numbers still to figure in the 

 United States census reports, the Illinois yield of mink furs being 

 valued by the last census at $6,000 per annum, and the muskrat 

 at $14,000. Even the otter has been reported to me by the deputy 

 game wardens of Illinois^ as still present in twenty-three counties, 

 mainly in the southern half of the State, although a few reports 

 come from the more northern counties bordering upon the Illinois 

 and the Mississippi. The beaver is reported from four Ohio 

 River counties ; but the marten and the fisher have long been 

 extinct in this State. 



Among the larger mammals we have lost the elk. the buflralo, 

 the panther or puma, and the black bear. The \'irginia deer is 

 still sometimes seen in southern Illinois, but hunters there believe 

 that it crosses the river from ^lissouri. and does not breed within 

 our limits. Its occasional occurrence in several of the more 

 northern counties is to be attributed to its escape from parks. 

 Both the prairie-wolf and the timber-wolf are widely distributed 

 in very small numbers, one or both of these having been lately 

 seen, according to the deputy wardens, in at least forty-three 

 Illinois counties. Lynxes and wildcats have been lately reported 

 from fourteen counties, seven of which are in extreme southern 

 Illinois. Red and gray foxes are found by the game wardens in 

 forty counties ; and the raccoon and the opossum are common 

 enough to be hunted occasionally. The woodchuck holds its own 

 fairly well in the northern part of the State, and the swamp-hare 

 may yet be found in our southern cypres? swamps. The common 

 rabbit is. of course, everywhere abundant. The fox-squirrel and 

 the gray squirrel still live in our woods in scanty numbers, and 

 the red squirrel or chickaree occurs at present in Iroquois County, 

 where, however, it was specially introduced. The badger is un- 

 doubtedly to be found in northern Illinois : and skunks and 

 weasels are. of course, still with us. although in smaller numbers 

 than formerly. 



The really significant game of the State is virtually reduced, 

 however, to wild ducks, shore-birds, prairie-hens, quail, and the 

 plebeian rabbit. Quail are found, in fact, in every county ; and 

 prairie-hens — thanks to our protective laws — are now to be seen 

 in at least seventv-four counties, so abundantlv in some that farm- 



1 The data here given concerning the larger fur-bearing animals of the State I owe 

 in great measure to the courtesy of Hon. John A. Wheeler, State Gatne Coxumis- 

 sioner, who was kind enough to obtain for my use, and at my request, information 

 from his deputy wardens throughout the State as to the present animal life of their 

 respective counties. Reports have thus come to me. since this paper was begun, 

 from eighty-five of the hundred and two counties of the State. 



