626
HISTORY OF KANE COUNTY.
that should be carefully avoided; but it is exceedingly doubtful if any such serpents were ever actually found here. There were many vicious "snapping turtles," and the common land and water tortoise was abundant. Frogs and toads were, of course, numerous. Along the borders of the low lands, very many little circular embankments of clay two or three inches high, would be noticed surrounding the entrance to the perpendicular smooth round well of the little crab, or crawfish, that, it was said, always went down until it found water.
Innumerable land and water-fowl made this their permanent or their. migratory home. With the melting of the snow in early spring, the brant, goose and duck made their appearance. The geese, especially, flew in great wedge-shaped flocks, steadily following their tireless leader, and their honk was heard in the sky at all hours of the day and night during the migratory season. Ever northward in the spring, and southward in the fall, they passed in countless numbers. The few we see now are as nothing compared to the thousands of the early days. They nested and reared their numerous broods along the river, creeks, and reedy ponds. Their flesh and their eggs were common food, and the settlers' children used to place their eggs in the nest of the setting hen and raise young wild ducks and geese. They were easily domesticated, yet frequently one that had matured in apparently contented captivity, would listen to the call of an overflying flock and, taking wing, disappear with the wild ones forever. Their numbers may be inferred from the fact that, after a heavy summer rain, in a little temporary pool of water formed in a depression of the prairie, now part of the cultivated field of one of our dairy farms, as they took wing from the pond, seven ducks were brought down by the discharge of a single-barreled shot-gun. Prairie chickens literally swarmed over the prairies, and numberless coveys of quail whistled in prairie and woodland. The children caught them by dozens in "figure-four" and other traps. The drum of the partridge was heard in the heavy timber, and in startled flight, they whirred from copse to copse through the groves.
During the summer time there were many sand-hill cranes. They came in spring at about the same time as the geese, or a little later, but flying much higher and without order. First was heard their call far up in
the sky, and presently in small numbers and in pairs, they were seen descending upon the prairies, in localities from which they rarely wandered far during the summer. They were exceedingly wary and shy, and they seemed to prefer the gravelly knolls and dry summits of the prairie. Standing erect from three to five feet high, their alert vision caught sight of the most cautious foe. At the warning cry of any member of the flock, all took flight at once, and rarely returned to the place of alarm for many hours. They were exceedingly timid, yet, when wounded and unable to escape, they were a dangerous quarry; for the vicious stroke of a long powerful beak would inflict a painful wound. Their preparations for migration southward in the fall were very peculiar and full of interest. In the late autumn they could be heard uttering a loud call, differing from their ordinary cries, and soon they began to assemble in pairs and groups at some chosen spot, where for several days their antics were most astonishing. In an apparent frenzy of excitement they joined in a sort of pow-wow, leaping, dancing and screaming in the most ceaseless and curious manner. In the meantime their numbers were constantly increasing by new arrivals. At length when all appeared to have come, the leader took wing, and uttering that loud call, began his circling upward flight. He was quickly followed by one and another, and others in more rapid succession, until soon the entire assembly was in air sailing in a sweeping, enlarging circle, ever upward-upward-frequently uttering that singular cry. At length, as they became mere specks in the sky or disappeared wholly beyond vision, that far call still came down to earth, but passing southward and receding steadily until it, too, was lost in the distance and every crane had disappeared until the following spring. There were many blue herons along the streams and ponds, and quite frequently most beautiful snow-white herons were seen. A species of bittern, the children called "thunder pumps," inhabited the marshy places, and snipes of different kinds, and plover and woodcock were numerous on the prairies and lowlands. Rarely, but now and then, stately snow-white swans, were observed floating majestically upon the still water places or sailing in the quiet air.
Immense flocks of wild pigeons, in their season, actually darkened the sky, and they passed
