CHAPTER XII 



"FROM HAUNTS OF COOT AND HERN" 



When the snow melts in March, and the spring rains beat 

 on the land, the banks of the Kankakee River can no longer 

 hold their burden of waters. The flood rises rapidly and 

 spreads over the outlying meadows and woodlands. In Stark 

 County, Indiana, the broadening river forms a considerable 

 body of water known as English Lake. Summer comes 

 before the flood recedes to leave great pools and morasses in 

 its wake as reminders of its spring-time visit. In June these 

 English Lake reed-grown stretches are "the haunts of coot 

 and hern," of the redwings, the marsh wrens, and the rails. 

 In the earlier spring great flocks of ducks, geese, and plover 

 make a resting and feeding place of the reaches of swamp and 

 open water. There is a world of bird-life throughout the 

 whole English Lake section. Perhaps there better than any 

 other place in the Middle West may be studied the habits of 

 the water birds. A Chicago shooting club owns much of the 

 marsh, and as all hunting is done under rules which have 

 regard for the preservation of species, the birds still throng to 

 the locality with the first touch of spring-time warmth or of 

 autumn chill. 



In the third week of May, 1901, four weeks after the 

 shooting season had closed, I tramped and rowed through the 

 English Lake section with Ruthven Deane, the president 

 of the Illinois Audubon Society. It is something to be famil- 

 iar with many birds; it is something better to know them all. 



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