ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 23 



his place the work of conservation for the Rock River Game Preserve. I 

 will not be able before winter sets in to go to see all the owners. I must 

 go in an automobile, and it requires considerable time sometimes to talk 

 the matter over with the landowner. Even when he is willing, he nat- 

 urally desires to know all about it. There are now about a hundred who 

 have signed leases, and perhaps half of these my son had secured before 

 his leaving. I desire to post these places, if possible, before snow is deep, 

 or it is too cold. The Chief Game and Fish Warden will supply the 'No 

 hunting or trespassing' signs. 



"It is part of the plan to have those who are willing, to take some 

 quail, to be sent up by Mr. Bradford from the southern part of the state, 

 and care for and feed them over winter. And. in the spring, to take some 

 English pheasant eggs to place under a chicken hen, — the pheasant eggs 

 being procured by the State for this purpose from the Wallace Evans Game 

 Farm at St. Charles, Illinois. My son bought a half dozen for me this 

 last spring, — they sent seven for good luck ! Out of four fertile eggs, 

 three were hatched. Unfortunately they got their feet wet before they 

 were red around their eyes, and only one is left to show his ringneck and 

 handsome irridescence, — and incidentally, to greedily eat all the angle 

 worms I have time to get for him. 



"It will be of interest, I know, that the establishing of the Rock River 

 Game Preserve has gone the rounds of the newspapers in different parts 

 of the country. It is a help to others who have a similar plan in mind, 

 and wish successfully to carry it out. The State of Oregon has these pre- 

 serves. When we were at Hood River, Oregon, in 1912, Mr. William L. 

 Finley. then State Game Warden, sent to me some blanks for use in the 

 Hood River Valley, desiring me to secure the signers. I had arranged for 

 a talk at Hood River, with slides, by Mr. Finley, in this connection, but 

 we were leaving for our return to Illinois a day before, and others had to 

 attend to the nature talk for me. So, I missed meeting and hearing this 

 very brilliant nature worker and writer. He is now State Biologist of the 

 State of Oregon. The Illinois Audubon Society gave bird lovers in Chi- 

 cago a chance to hear Mr. Finley last March. 



"Under the present State arrangements, there are five inspectors in 

 Illinois for game and fish matters. One of these is Mr. C. M. Myers, of 

 Oregon, for this part of the State. Mr. C. L. McDowell who has Ogle 

 County as his warden work, aside from my conservation part, is also from 

 Oregon. So, we should surely get on with our preserve, — but, please 

 note, it takes vigilance. 'Eternal vigilance' is the price of anything that is 

 made to succeed ! 



Rebecca H. Kauffman. 



