ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



attracted many water birds that for years have been almost 

 unknown in this region. This condition and the protection af- 

 forded by the migratory bird law, have already made a notice- 

 able difference in the number of birds to be seen. The birds evi- 

 dently know that they are protected, for the water birds are much 

 easier to approach than when found outside the preserves. 



Each type of forest has its own individual attraction. There 

 are prairie groves of many acres in extent, oak ridges, flood 

 plains, marshy tracts bordered by willows and button bush, 

 shallow lakes and ponds and heavily wooded ravines. 



There are also large areas being naturally reforested whose 

 copse-like thickets provide ideal conditions for bird life both 

 as to shelter and food. During spring migrations the valleys 

 of the Desplaines, Salt Creek and the north branch of the Chi- 

 cago River are visited by myriads of Warblers, Vireos, and mem- 

 bers of the Sparrow tribe. The Tufted Titmouse, Red-bellied 

 Woodpecker, and Carolina Wren and occasionally the Mocking- 

 bird have been noted along the Desplaines river with increasing 

 frequency. The rare Prothonotary Warbler has be£n found 

 nesting at Riverside in recent years and doubtless nests each 

 year in the county. The Skokie valley of which more than 2000 

 acres are being added by purchase to the Forest preserves, is 

 particularly adapted to the wants of the Rails, Sandpipers and 

 other shore and wading birds, and thousands of Redwings, 

 Bobolinks, Meadowlarks and Sparrows. The Portage tract 

 south of Riverside, which contains Mud lake, and as its name 

 indicates, is the site of the old portage between the south branch 



of the Chicago 

 river and the Des- 

 plaines, used by 

 pioneer French- 

 men and trappers 

 more than 200 

 years ago, is an 

 ideal Warbler 

 country. A haw- 

 thorn orchard 

 furnishes the in- 

 sect life desired, 

 and later in the 

 summer the bee- 

 hive and hour- 

 glass hawthorns 

 house in their 

 dense and thorny 

 protection many 

 nests of Thrash- 

 ers, Catbirds, and Sparrows. 



The gorgeous Cardinal arrived from the south more than 



A PRAIRIE BASIN IN THE MOUNT FOREST AREA 

 Photo by O. M. Schantz 



