Spring on the Kankakee 115 



scarred tops of stumps. The tree swallow's under parts are 

 pure white, while its back and shoulders, when the sun strikes 

 them full and fair, are a shimmering green. 



We turned the prow of our little boat toward the shore 

 and landed by some great trees under which the Indians once 

 must have roamed. There two male redstarts gave us a 

 diversion by having a pitched battle, first on a limb, then in 

 the air, and then on the limb again. We stayed in the vicin- 

 ity for certainly half an hour, and though we did not watch 

 them constantly, I think that these little warblers, whose 

 tempers are as fiery as their plumage, never once gave over 

 fighting. We found a red-bellied woodpecker on one of the 

 big trees. This locality is, I think, about its northern limit, 

 though one careful observer has reported the presence of one 

 of these woodpeckers in Lincoln Park, Chicago. We heard 

 the note of the tufted titmouse. It was the same "Peter- 

 peter-peter" that I had heard early in March in the south- 

 ern Hoosier hills. 



As the shadows began to lengthen, we floated homeward 

 with the gentle current of the river. When the sun declined the 

 wood thrushes found voice once more. Their songs attended 

 us all the way to the farm-house. Perhaps the birds knew of 

 their listeners' appreciation, and were moved sympathetically 

 to sing until it was time for the vesper sparrow to close the 

 day's concert, 



