48 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



ers are beginning to protest against their farther increase because 

 of the amount of grain which they devour. Wild turkeys occa- 

 sionally occur in the more broken, wooded country, but too rarely 

 to offer any considerable inducement to the hunter. In short, 

 with the exception of the elk, buffalo, and bear, we have the 

 larger forms of the wild mammalian animals of the State, and 

 most of the game birds also, still present to an extent such that 

 we need only to protect them strictly to have them back again in 

 any numbers which can find food, shelter, and safety in their 

 present environment. That this must at best fall far short of 

 their original abundance is shown by the results of the recent 

 protection of the prairie-hen. The very country in which it was 

 formerly most numerous — that is, the open prairie — is now least 

 favorable to it because of the agricultural operations, which 

 disturb and destroy it during its breeding season. 



Time has failed me, in the preparation of this brief paper, to 

 enter into particulars concerning the work of the state commis- 

 sions now engaged in maintaining and protecting the valuable 

 wild animals of the State and in improving the composition of 

 our fauna by the introduction of exotic species. These are the 

 State Fish Commission and the State Game Commission, to which 

 reference has already been made. The biennial reports of the 

 former, some fifteen in number, give a sufficient account of their 

 work. The State Game Commissioner has not yet published 

 regular reports of his operations, but they are described in a brief 

 but comprehensive illustrated article printed in the Arbor and 

 Bird Day Circular issued by the State Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction in 1909. 



CONSERVATION OF OUR FORESTS. 



Henry C. Cowles. 



Many might think it strange that forest conservation should 

 have a place of importance in the "Prairie State." x\nd statistics 

 might be cited to bear out the contention that for us the topic is one 

 of small significance. Illinois is accustomed to occupy among our 

 States a place near the top in almost any statistical table, whether 

 it be a matter of bushels of corn, miles of railroad, number of peo- 

 ple, gallons of whisky, or degree of intelligence. In amount of 

 lumber production, however, there are more than thirty States 



