176 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



chance for imagination, in a chance cloud formation. The sun was 

 setting in that great blaze of subdued red, and was farther west 

 than the mirage. The clouds which bore the mirage hung unsus- 

 pended to the south and between us and the horizon, which held 

 yet another bank of strangely shaped, gray clouds. As to the 

 details of the mirage, I know that it was the Mississippi bluns 

 which I saw reflected. There was the main river, the further bank 

 being indistinct, but the blu:Ts on this side were very plain. And 

 yet towards me from the river, was an inlet or a back water pond, 

 that was very distinct. The shore line of this showed a boulder 

 in the edge of the water." 



The Mississippi blu;7s are fully one-hundred miles distant 

 from Charles City, where the mirage appeared. The same night 

 that this appeared, I had noticed the wondrous colors of the sky, 

 and had telephoned Mrs. Button to watch them. But they were 

 going so very fast, that by the time I got back to my observation 

 post, I did not see the same thing which I had phoned about. Then 

 I was busied, and ceased in my watch. And it was apparently at 

 that time that the real mirage began to ^hape itself. 



There is no river the size of the Mississippi and with the 

 bluffs margining it, any place near Charles City. It is a long way 

 for a reflection to carry, but the vivid description which has been 

 given is one of the most interesting of those which I have thus far 

 found. The atmospheric conditions are such that the mirage might 

 easily appear at that time. Most of the ones described have been 

 in the early morning. This was just as the sun was setting. If the 

 sun had dropped below the horizon, then its last rays might have 

 been spent in illuminating just such a reflection as this. The 

 distinct manner of the reflection considering the distance, is one 

 of the most unusual characters of it. 



There is much to be learned about the prairie mirage. Many 

 persons could add information concerning it, which would be of 

 value to the collector of data on our natural phenomena. I have 

 collected here some references which I have had of the mirage. 

 There is much which is now waiting to be collected. The lips of 

 the old settlers yet mumble the stories of the early days. But the 

 mumbling will cease e'er long, and then we will not have the 

 records which we should most carefully have collected. Let us 

 then get to work and secure these records before it is too late. All 

 that deals with the early life of the pioneer is sacred to the memory 



