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Wildlife of Elk Grove Preserve* 
By GORDON SAWYER PEARSALL, Naturalist 
ALONG A HEDGEROW north of the cornfield east of Salt Creek, and along 
the Arlington Heights Road boundary, I found a nest of the European quail 
or Hungarian partridge. It was in a clump of small hawthorn bushes about 
two feet tall, in the tall grass along the edge of the field. It was in a slight 
depression at the base of the hawthorn and was made of weed stems, grasses 
and leaves. I was going from Salt Creek northeast to the pasture just 
beyond our boundary, and almost stepped on the incubating bird which burst 
from under my feet with a rush, scattering leaves and grass and almost 
scaring me out of seven years’ growth. I looked at the exact spot from 
where the bird had flown, expecting to see an open nest. But all I saw was 
the grass and leaves exactly as before. When I was about two feet in front 
of the spot I got down on my knee and began carefully to part the grass 
and leaves. As I brushed aside the leaves, there was the nest. The leaves 
had settled back to conceal the nest very skillfully. Eleven olive-buff eggs 
were in the nest. I carefully replaced the leaves and went on about my 
business. Eighteen days later the eggs hatched and the young left with 
their mother to hunt food and protection in the field and meadows. 
April 16 I saw a pair of phoebes building their nest under the bridge 
over the Arlington Heights Road where it crossed Salt Creek. The nest 
was cemented to the side of the bridge beam with mud and covered with 
moss and lichens. The position of the nest made it impossible to see into it. 
May 2 they were carrying food to the young. By May 17 the young were 
ready to leave the nest, and on May 19 they were gone. May 20 a pair of 
barn swallows started to build their nest of mud pellets and grass under 
the bridge. It was finished and lined with chicken breast feathers by May 
25. On May 19 a pair of kingbirds began building a nest in a scrub elm on 
the west bank of Salt Creek about 30 yards north of the Arlington Heights 
bridge, in a horizontal crotch some four feet from the ground. It was made 
of weed stems, grass, twigs and string and lined with fine rootlets. Five 
days later the first egg was laid. The full set of four buff eggs, neatly 
blotched with brown and lavender, was completed on May 28. Woe be unto 
the bird or reptile that got too close to the nest, for the male was continually 
on guard in the top of an elm tree about 30 feet away. He paid little 
attention to small birds, but large birds, like crows and hawks, were attacked 
and driven away without mercy. Perhaps it was this protection that 
prompted a little alder flycatcher to build its nest in the crotch of a haw- 
thorn about ten feet from the kingbird nest. It was a beautiful nest of 
plant fibres, lined with soft plant down. Four small buff, black-spotted 
eggs constituted the set. 
June 16 I was following the road across the swamp ground from the elk 
pasture to Henry Tagge’s farm when I saw a baby cardinal in the road 
northeast of the big cattail marsh. It was the first time I had been able to 
*This article is composed of selections from ‘‘A report on the Fauna and Flora of 
Elk Grove Preserve, Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Illinois,’’ submitted by Mr. 
Pearsall to the Commission. Earlier portions have described the location of the Preserve, 
the mammals he found there, and some of the birdlife of Elk Grove. 
