20 TALE SA:U DIU BO NSE Bore eet 
Riverview Park, then known as the North Woods, on the north 
branch of the Chicago River, in former days harbored many birds 
then migrating. At that time it was a heavy forested area, but scarcely 
any trees are now there and those that are I believe must have been 
planted. What is now known as Jackson Park, before being landscaped 
the year or two preceding the World’s Fair of 18938, was another good 
locality in which to find birds and also the groves of woodland skirt- 
ing the Des Plaines River. A few birds even nested at one time near 
Halfday and Wheeling and, I am told, north of Waukegan. 
The Golden Plover is another bird I would like to mention. During 
the earlier years when we lived on Washington Boulevard it visited the 
closely grazed fields near what is now Humboldt Park both in spring 
and fall. Another favorite locality was in the vicinity of Lemont and 
Romeo on the Des Plaines River. But few of these birds were seen near 
Glen Ellyn when we moved there. 
Although I learned considerable about the Prairie Chicken after 
coming to Glen Ellyn, my first experience with it was in Chicago. I 
accidently stumbled on a nest in that portion of Garfield Park, then 
Central Park, south of Madison Street, a section left wild and un- 
changed. The nest contained fifteen eggs and I remember it as well 
as though it happened yesterday. A few of those eggs were taken and 
preserved but end-blown as was done in those days. The remainder 
were hatched and the chicks survived. “Chickens” then were fairly 
common on the virgin prairie lands all the way to the Des Plaines River 
and beyond toward Lombard and Prospect Park (now Glen Ellyn). 
At California Avenue (not then laid out) farm lands began. There 
was a corn field at California Avenue and for years afterwards cabbage 
fields were in evidence on Madison Street. 
Those yet uncultivated prairie lands were rich with the original 
prairie flora and a fine sight to see in spring, summer and fall months. 
Upland Plovers or Bartramian Sandpipers bred there, delighting the 
ears with their whistling notes that should be heard to be appreciated. 
Kiven to this day scattered pairs are to be met with on the outskirts 
of Glen Ellyn, two pairs actually nesting and rearing young within the 
corporate limits of the village. Concerning the Calumet region, and 
especially Lake Calumet, I like to speak of the immense flight of Can- 
vas-back Ducks once found there. The region was so famous that 
sportsmen from European countries came there to hunt them. At Shef- 
field, Indiana, just across the state line, a hotel was built especially for 
hunters. At one time I hunted on Calumet Lake myself. One trip is 
remembered well. My boyhood friend, John F. McNab (with whom I 
usually spend a part of the summer at a cottage we built at Bear Lake 
in Kalkasha County, Michigan), and I were at Calumet Lake one sea- 
son when an immense flight of Canvas-backs took place. When the 
ducks arose from the center of the lake, keeping well out of gun range, 
the sound of their wings was like a heavy roll of thunder. Heavy gun 
fire couid not have been louder. I have never heard anything like it 
before or since. It was a sight I never expect to see again. 
On Calumet Lake there were also rafts of Coots which were never 
hunted or eaten in those days. They bunched together and could sel- 
