246 NOTICES OF NATURE. 



dew, and with the aid of a gun, I might have shot many hun 

 dreds of them without leaving the pathway. On the skirts 

 of the forest around Springfield, quails, or partridges as they 

 are called in the language of the country, are abundant, and 

 so tame, that they might have been killed with stones. Not 

 withstanding the number of such birds, Illinois cannot boast 

 of gamekeepers, and I only observed one individual shooting 

 grouse. Many cranes, swans, ducks, and wild-geese, were 

 seen hovering above the prairies, and on different occasions I 

 disturbed owls reposing amongst withered grass. The forests 

 abounded with green coloured paroquets, which fluttered 

 about with a disagreeable noise, in flocks of six or seven. 



Deer were frequently seen bounding across the plain, and 

 prairie wolves skulking amongst the tall grass. The prairie 

 wolf is a small animal, not much larger than the fox of Britain, 

 and whose habits are not widely different. In forests on the 

 banks of the river Illinois, grey coloured squirrels were ex 

 tremely numerous, and seemed actively engaged in collecting 

 nuts, with which the ground was strewed. Near Pekin I 

 walked a mile or two with a person returning from shooting 

 squirrels, and who bestowed four or five on a woman who 

 asked them for a sick boy. In Canada, the colour of the 

 squirrel is red ; in Michigan, black ; and in Illinois, grey. 

 The gopher is a red-coloured quadruped, in size and shape 

 resembling the weasel of Britain. It burrows in the prairies, 

 forming passages, and throwing up earth like the mole. It 

 subsists on vegetables, and is sometimes a source of annoy 

 ance to the farmer. I was told it is furnished with pouches 

 for carrying earth from its excavations. 



The wild bee was the most numerous of insects, and 

 crowded the few remaining blossoms of the sunflower. The 

 live in the hollows of decaying trees, and a considerable 

 quanti y of their honey is collected by the inhabitants. In the 

 Canadas, the maple-tree supplies saccharine matter, and in 

 Illinois, where this species of plant is rare or unknown, the 

 bee forms the chief source of this commodity. Thus, the 

 maple, bee, and cane, contribute the same ingredient to man, 

 and are illustrative of the economy and diversity of nature. 



The country from Chicago to Springfield, through which 



