A Two-Year Nesting Record . 435 



and ravines extending along the lake; (3), the Skokie Val- 

 ley Slough, about two miles west of the lake, with its adjoin- 

 ing woods and fields; (4), the heavily timbered region in the 

 Des Plaines River Valley, about six miles west of the Skokie ; 

 (5), and the prairie and lake country west of the Des Plaines 

 River. 



A very good description of Beach may be found in the 

 "Auk," volume XXIV, number 2, in " Ornithological Condi- 

 tions in Northeastern Illinois, with Notes on Some Winter 

 Birds," by the late John Farwell Ferry. In the marshes of 

 this region were found the Bitterns, Rails, Blackbirds, and 

 Green Herons, and among- the dunes, the Sparrows. 



Along the shores of Lake Michigan extends a bluff, cut 

 every mile or so by a ravine. It is, in some places, just a 

 clay or sand bank inhabited by Bank Swallows and King- 

 fishers, while in other places it is covered by brush and a few 

 trees. The beach varies in width from seventy-five feet to 

 none at all. A-Iost of this bluff property is occupied by resi- 

 dences, but in some places there are still fields, small groves 

 of trees, and woods. In the brushy fields and groves the 

 Yellow Warbler, Redstart, Wood Pewee, Tovvhee, Goldfinch, 

 and Red-eyed Vireo nest, and in the thicker woods there are 

 many Crows and a few Hawks. 



The Skokie Valley Slough, which lies to the west, extends 

 south from about the middle of the county, where it is only 

 a few feet wide, to the county line, where it is more than a 

 mile wide. Here in the Marsh proper were found the Bit- 

 terns, Rails, Red-winged Blackbird, Long-billed Marsh Wren, 

 and Swamp Sparrow. In the fields and woods on either side 

 there are Green Herons, Sparrow Hawks, Maryland Yellow- 

 throats, Marsh Hawks, and the Sparrows. 



Farther west is the Des Plaines River Valley, which region 

 is heavily wooded. The Des Plaines River runs south the 

 entire length of the county and is about eight or nine miles 

 from the lake. It was here that we found most of our 

 Hawks' nests, besides innumerable Crows' nests. Most of 

 our trips to this region were made in the early spring. 



