fee UE UL BOWN = BULLETIN 1 
Illinois Prairies in 1871 
Reprint from Introduction, Birds of Illinois, 
by Robert Ridgway 
HE PRAIRIES. The author’s personal acquaintance with the 
prairies, their vegetation and their fauna, is very limited. In his 
section of the State, there is no open or uncultivated prairie nearer 
to Mount Carmel than 25 miles, the nearest one being Allison’s Prairie, 
opposite the city of Vincennes, Indiana. 
In Jasper and Richland counties, prairies of considerable size occur. 
They are offshoots or arms of the Grand Prairie, although each particular 
arm or “‘bay”’ has its own distinctive name. A few miles west of Olney, 
Richland County, lies Fox Prairie; and to the southeast of this (the 
wooded bottoms of the Fox River and tributaries intervening) is Sugar 
Creek prairie. These two are the only prairies which the writer has 
explored ornithologically. 
The first visit to Fox Prairie was made on the 8th of June, 1871, 
the writer and his companions arriving a little before noon. A rolling 
plain spread before us, the farther side bounded by timber, while the 
prairie itself was free from tree or brush, except where some intersecting 
stream was followed by a narrow line of thickets, interspersed with occa- 
sional fair-sized and gracefully formed elms; or along the edge, where 
the jungle of sumac, thorn-bushes, wild plum, hazel, etc., backed by 
young oak and hickory trees, showed plainly the encroachment of the 
woodland. Herds of horses and cattle scattered about over the prairie, 
and two or three neat farm houses, with their attendant orchards and 
cultivated ground, made us realize that we were yet within the bounds 
of comfortable civilization; otherwise, the landscape presented much of 
its primitive aspect. The day was a delightful one; for, although the 
heat ranged above 80’, the fresh prairie breeze tempered it to a delight- 
ful mildness. Resting upon the cool greensward in the shade of a 
large elm in the hollow, our ears’ were delighted by such a chorus of 
bird-songs as we have heard nowhere else. Among the leafy arches 
overhead the Baltimore Orioles whistled their mellow flute-like notes, 
accompanied by soft, contented warble and joyous carol of the Warb- 
ling and Red-eyed Vireos; the birds of the meadow were chanting on 
every hand their several ditties, while the breeze wafted to us the songs 
of various woodland species. In the scrubby jungle a Mocking-bird 
fairly filled the air with his rich medley of varied notes, the singer leap- 
ing in restless ecstacy from branch to branch, with drooping wings and 
spread tail, or flitting from tree to tree as he sang. A Brown Thrasher 
poured forth a ceaseless accompaniment as he sat perched sedately upon 
the summit of a small vine-canopied tree—a contrast in bearing to the 
