The low prairie is wet inspring and is really 
a late stage in the filling of a lake or pond by 
bulrush, cattail and sedge. [It is dominated by 
triangular-stemmed sedges, such as Carex stricta, 
which forms tussocks or hummocks that are taken 
over in time by blue joint grass, Calamagrostis, 
with its whitish plumes. 
Just at the point where high ground and low 
meet, a very important indicator plant appears. 
It is sawgrass or cord-grass, Spartina, which 
can give a bare arm or leg a painful cut. This 
grass has a whitish-green color and often grows 
in a zone or band only five or ten feet wide. It 
thus shows up on an aerial photograph as a white 
line, tracing the boundary between high and low 
ground. 
Since the railroads early acquired and fenced 
right of way land under government grant, prairie 
relicts may often be found in small strips, even 
in city and suburb. But the original association 
of birds, mammals and insects cannot be studied 
except in larger areas. Prairies known to me sup- 
port bobolinks, meadowlarks, song sparrows, king- 
birds, upland plover-~in wet spots, red-winged 
blackbirds, marsh wrens and a few other species. 
There are also ground squirrels, meadow and jump- 
ing mice and foxes. But the bison are gone—as 
are the prairie chicken Chicago settlers found so 
abundant. 
And thereby hangs a story. The bison grazing 
and Indian burning of prairie was necessary for 
the relatively bare booming grounds of prairie 
chicken and foraging grounds of meadowlarks. One 
of the results of white civilization was the ces- 
sation of periodic burning, which often allowed 
the oak forest to invade what was once prairie 
and take over. 
The waving green, intermingling with a rich profusion 
of wildflowers, was the most beautiful sight I had ever 
gazed upon. In the distance the grove of Blue Island 
loomed up--beyond it the timber on the DesPlaines River. 
Gurdon S. Hubbard 
