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Many Birds Are Here in Winter 
By REVEREND GEORGE M. LINK, 
Naturalist, Pere Marquette State Park 
IN THREE different all-day hikes conducted the last week of December in 
the Pere Marquette State Area near Grafton, Illinois, a pretty good census 
of the winter birds for this region was finally obtained. Not often is so 
thorough a census made at this season. Summer lists are frequent, winter 
PHOTO BY JOHN H. GERARD 
Rev. George M. Link (center) and party in 
Pere Marquette State Park 
lists that cover certain groups of birds have been made, but rare it is that 
a nearly complete study of the birds is made in the dead of winter. 
Such a counting of birds could as easily be made in any of the large 
State Parks of Illinois. Since all are advantageously located and include 
in their territory many different types of landscapes and habitat, they are 
apt to have as remarkable a count as this one at Pere Marquette. 
Few people indeed realize the wealth of bird-life in winter time. So 
many stay indoors and shiver at the white sheet of snow over everything 
and forget that a special Providence is looking after the little ones outdoors. 
True some of the woods creatures fare badly in cold weather. We picked 
up a black-crowned night heron yesterday on our hike that was so emaciated 
it died in our hands. One leg was an angry red color from frostbite or 
