Repository: UIHistories Project: Sophograph - 1893 (Selections) [PAGE 14]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

KAMHLKS IN THK KASKASKIA !'.< WVi > M

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K.WII!] KS IN THE KASKASKIA }><>'! TOM

111", h >min^ of a bittern came drearih to mv ears, as I sat in mv camp _rht. listening to the loneU echoes of tin- woods. The camp was situate I on th l»anl » f 10 Kaskaskia River, at the edge of a magnificent hickory and oak \\< I. It would ha\ been difficult to find a more beautiful or convenient location for a camp, or one more invitii to the naturalist. The open space on which it was situated is about fifty feet th waters of the river, and is Hanked l>\ massive hiekon and oak timber. I had come hither for the purpose of collecting insects for my own cabinet, as birds and other taxidermic specimens for the cabinet of m\ father. •in- ; The first night spent there was one never ti» be forgott ii. The verv -tillm pressi\'( ; the intense and all surrounding darkness, the oc< sional boom oi i bittern, r tin- moiirnt'nl er\ of a loon, coming from over the water, tilled me with rb iin_ an<l with a sense of impending danger. Mosquitoes constantly troubled me; the\ - ined t. • me in myriads from the adjacent swamp. Sleep for me was impossihh . and, to add t > tl < I tcomfort. the rain commenced to fall in torrents. Altogether, with the streaming wet and the mosquitoes, it was one *>\' the most uncomfortable nights I have ever pa— :. As the day broke, the rain ceased, the mist cleared awav, m\ spirits revived, id I

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forgot the discomfort of the night in admiration of the beauties the river. \"< r st\ br< ' ~t I went to my boat and rowed slowh up stream. The bank the Kaskaskia ma\ safel> be called a natural arboretum, for the\ nt a 1 • r variety of t and shrubs than other tracts of tie sann i. When bout a mile from camp I left the boat and walk 1 along th -and tanks that K tended - veral miles alon<r the river. V kinjj fisher, which was ap ntlv sit I inu i pr«>) t'n Ii in m> approach, suddenly darted across the river. The char habit • tin birds is to sit motionl< > watching for their prev, I dart • i it and t > the w'niL'. uid return t«> their or n d \ ution t«> swallow it. A I wended m\ wa\ slowh ' rward, a larg< ik< -udd« nl\ burst UIHUI tn\ virv 11 both \ uid aquatic 1»iI « abounded. In some irr< il\ (angled shruhhen I not I 1 t d turbanc< unoi unc m i l l birds which were ven mini us, Oi invest I und th the disturban a small "horned owl' which v * sitting in th< r\ w<j repi ichful fjlaw < the n \ little birds. On an adja it tr« 1 sav i 1 t < .wn hawk ip| utl\ watching tie thnughtlc chirping birds, i >d ivn wI n Ppoituiiit\ often I. The hawk *at motionli i phinx, Th* Is so n r tlu I r 'inn d their pi ' In I \M n Ku<l<lt*nh I he \u\\\ k w low w ml mi

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