WILD GEESE, CRANES, AND SWANS. 209 



the grass with clothes of the proper hue, waits for 

 geese. They come in late in the evening, and 

 keep coming, flock after flock, until nine or ten at 

 night, and sometimes until eleven. On Mr. Sulli- 

 vant's tract, in Ford County, before they are 

 much shot at, the wild geese roost about the 

 ponds in the prairie ; but when they have been 

 disturbed there a few times, they go further off 

 to wild places in the extensive swamps. Wild 

 geese do not frequent timber-land, except when 

 the weather is very cold and blustering, or 

 when there is a fall of snow. At those times 

 they go into the timber along creeks and rivers, 

 and may be found there. 



Some years ago I and three others found out 

 that there was a small roosting-place on the 

 Sangamon River just below the mouth of Salt 

 Creek. There came a sudden frost and intense 

 cold weather, with some snow. We knew that at 

 such a time the river would be frozen over near 

 the place the geese frequented, and that they 

 would roost on the ice. At break of day we got 

 up, and drove in a sleigh three miles to where 

 we knew the. wild geese would be found. In 

 such weather they do not fly before nine or ten 

 o'clock in the morning. The river was low, and 



