WILD-FOWL SHOOTING IN ILLINOIS. 33 



winter, the coast of England, the fens of Lincolnshire, 

 and the northern portion of France, are visited by 

 numbers of wild fowl. These migratory birds receive 

 rest neither by day nor night as soon as their advent 

 is known. Half-a-dozen mallard is considered an 

 ample recompense for a sleepless night, wet feet, and 

 the cramped interior of a skiff ; and so imbued have 

 some become with this passion, that though they may 

 be possessed of wealth and all the requisites of comfort, 

 they persistently follow, night after night, this adven- 

 turous and hazardous recreation, confidently believing 

 that there is no other portion of the world where such 

 glorious results can be obtained a proof of the old 

 adage, " Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise." 



" Sic venator immemor tenorae sposse 

 Jacet sub frigid! tempore." 



It has often struck me that if such enthusiasts could, 

 by electric telegraph or some fairy incantation, be trans- 

 ported from their sea-girt island-home to one of the 

 Western prairies, at the proper season of the year, 

 when the immense migratory flocks of the web-footed 

 gentry are travelling southward from their arctic 

 summer breeding retreats, their senses would be con- 

 siderably astonished, their former hallucinations would 

 receive a wholesome shock, and their most expanded 

 imaginations be far surpassed. And better than all, 



