ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



Photo by Walter Goelitz 

 NEST OF GREEN HERON IN THE 

 SKOKIE 



this stream traverses the so-called 



Skokie Marsh which varies from a half 



to one and a half miles in width. 



In this marsh are winding lagoons 



dotted with lily pads, and hemmed in 



by walls of rushes and sedges, of cat- 

 tails and bur reeds and sweet flag, and 



there are wide-open expanses swept 



over by marsh-loving grasses. In due 



season marsh marigolds and iris, the 



cardinal flower and the closed gentian 



appear on the border of the marsh, and the low bordering prairies that 



dip down to it are covered with asters and golden rod and blazing star. 



"Wooded Islands" fringed about by willows and aspens and shrubs like 



the ninebark. elder-berry and osier dogwood stand out in the marsh and 



at intervals advancing tongues of woodland 

 from the forested slopes facing the Skokies 

 extend down into it. 



The marsh with its wooded islands affords 

 shelter and nesting sites for a great variety of 

 bird life. Typical nesting birds of the area 

 are the American Bittern, Blue-winged Teal, 

 Green Heron, King Rail, Sora Rail, Virginia 

 Rail, Florida Gallinule, Red-winged Blackbird, 

 Swamp Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Short-billed 

 Marsh Wren, Long-billed Marsh Wren, Wood- 

 cock, Killdeer, etc. A strip of land five miles 

 from north to south would include the most 

 beautiful portions of the Skokie. Within this 

 would occur such notable woodlands as those 

 held by the Sweeney estate west of Fort Sher- 

 idan and Copp's Wood's west of Ravinia station. 



For the Waukegan area a portion of the beach plain north of the 

 city and known as the "Waukegan Flats'' has been suggested for 

 reservation. This plan recognizes the importance of saving for public 

 use and enjoyment for all time to come a portion of Lake County's 

 valuable frontage on Lake 

 Michigan. From the 

 southern boundary of Lake 

 County northward to 

 Waukegan only a narrow 

 strip of beach lies between 

 the foot of the bluff and 

 the shore line, but from the 

 south limits of Waukegan 

 northward the bluffs swing 

 away from the shore, and the 

 beach plain rapidlv broad- Photo b> waite 



<^c- ,,« + n U :«, i -1 A MANDRAKE CANOPY AND A BROWN 



ens until it is nearly a mile thrasher's nest 



Photo by Walter Goelitz 

 A NATIVE SON OF THE 

 SKOKIE 



