Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 20: Flora and Fauna, 1912

Perhaps this chapter is not strictly histori¬ cal, but it is relatively so at least, as indicating the conditions of animate and inanimate life that confronted the pioneer and upon which he was dependent for existence prior to the opening of farms and the rearing of domestic animals and fowls. He was dependent on the forest for logs for his rude dwelling, upon the wild fowls and animals for his meat, upon the wild grasses for food for the live-stock he brought with him, and upon the forest and prairie for all fruits and edible roots and plants that found their way to his table, also for such medicinal herbs and leaves as were of use in case of sickness.

As this is not a scientific work the editor will simply give the names in common use of trees, plants and flowers which make up, or have made up the flora of the county, leaving their botanical or arborcultural designation to others. Following is a list of trees indigenous to the county with minor exceptions :

Jamestown weed, milk weed, poke weed, pig weed, yellow dock, sour dock, stinging net¬ tle ; common, but first named not as abundant as formerly.

Bulrush, spear grass, crab grass, foxtail, iron weed; violets, daisies, buttercups, sweet william, golden rod, and various minor wild plants and flowers, still as abundant as ever.

The words "abundant" and "common," as used above, refer generally to indigenous con¬ ditions. Many of the indigenous trees and plants have become extinct. Their places are supplied by imported trees and plants from all quarters of the globe, originally domesticated, but which have spread to fields and forests and flourish as luxuriantly as those native to the soil.

This enumeration gives some idea of the va¬ riety of wild products of which the soil and climate of the county are capable and indicate, in some measure, the resources from which both the aborigines and the early settlers could draw means of subsistenence from the forests and prairies.

The native fauna of the county were abun¬ dant and varied. The game of the forests and prairies, and the redundant life of the streams furnished the Indians and the early settlers with their main sources of livelihood.

the land and herds of deer were numerous, the latter furnishing the Indians and early set¬ tlers not only with food but with moccasins and clothing. The deer were so numerous that they did not become extinct until the county was thickly settled. They were still occasionally seen as late as i860.

The American buffalo were once common here and were mentioned by the early French explorers, but before the first permanent set¬ tlements had been made, the bison, through some strange instinct, migrated beyond the Mississippi. The heads, horns and bones of these animals were found in abundance as late as 1820, throughout the county, mute evidence of their former occupancy. The mighty mas¬ todon, ' or mammoth, also dwelt here in pre¬ historic times, and their bones have been dis¬ covered in various places. The jaw bones and teeth of one was discovered, some years ago, within the limits of Alton, by Professor Mc¬ Adams, the geologist, where a gully had been washed through a clay hillside, immediately above the limestone. One of the teeth weighed fifty pounds and was as hard and polished as ivory.

Carnivorous animals were once numerous. The black bear was occasionally seen by the early settlers, but soon became extinct. The panther and wild cat were also frequently en¬ countered. The grey, wolf and prairie wolf were common and it was long before they be¬ came entirely extinct. They were, for a time, a serious menace to the pioneers. Foxes were also common and a nuisance to the farmers. Their cunning enabled them to survive long after other carnivorous animals had been ex¬ terminated. They were especially numerous along the river bluffs, where the caves and crevices in the cliffs gave them secure hiding places. Grey wolves have been seen along the bluffs, within five miles of Alton, within the last decade, and a few foxes still have their habitat there.

Of the squirrel family the fox and grey squirrel are still numerous in the forests, but the flying, ground and prairie varieties are less in evidence.

Madison county must once have been a paradise for the ornithologist. Of birds it has had many species, the majority of which are unfortunately extinct. Birds of prey were numerous and many species still remain. The turkey buzzard, pigeon hawk, swallow-tailed hawk, night hawk, Mississippi kite, red tailed hawk still remain with us; the great horned owl, barred owl, snowy and screech owl, the bald eagle and ring-tailed eagle, once common, are now seldom seen with the exception of the screech owl, which still makes night melodious sometimes even in the cities. A flock of screech owls remained on the premises of the editor during almost the entire summer of 1911, to the terror of other birds which made fierce onslaughts on them in the trees every evening until darkness put the owls in posses¬ sion of the field.

Other birds were numerous : Wood peck¬ ers of the hairy, downy, red-headed, golden¬ winged varieties. The ruby-throated humming bird (always scarce), the chimney swallow, cliff swallow, whippoorwill, belted king fisher, pewee, scarlet tangier, summer red bird, barn swallow, blue martin, cedar bird, mocking bird, brown thrush, house wren, yellow bird, oriole, snow bird, chipping sparrow, swamp sparrow, indigo bird, cardinal, bobolink, red-w'inged black bird, meadow lark, American raven, common crow, red bird and blue jay, are among those that are now or have been with us.

Of what are usually denominated game birds we have, or have had, the wild pigeon, common mourning dove, wild turkey, prairie chicken, pinnated grouse, ruffled grouse, kildee, bald head, yellow legged and upland plover, wood cock, English snipe, red-breasted snipe, curlew, Virginia rail, American swan, trumpeter swan, snow goose, Canada goose, brant, mallard, black duck, pin-tail duck, green-winged teal, shoveler, wood duck; red head, canvass back, butter ball and merganser ducks.

We have also had the sand hill crane, white heron, great blue heron, bittern, pelican and the loon. The wood ibis was here in the sum¬ mer of 1854-5.

For the great portion of the enumeration . made above the editor is indebted to a list pre¬ pared some forty years ago by the late Hon. W. C. Flagg.

Thanks to our loose game laws, the so-called march of civilization, the dictates of fashion, and the licensing of thousands of pot hunters in every county, who slaughter everything that flies, the greater part of the numerous species of song birds, ornamental birds and game birds, the former habitues of the fields and forests, lakes and rivers, have become extinct. The wild pigeons that once darkened the sky in their flight and roosted in countless thou¬ sands in our forests, have utterly disappeared - not only from this section but from the country at large. The spring and fall flights of geese and ducks still continue, with several weeks spent twice a year in our lakes and rivers, but in constantly decreasing numbers. There is no compensation for the loss of these early denizens of our county in the ar¬ rival and vast multiplication of the belligerent English sparrow, whose good qualities, if any, are not yet revealed, while its pestiferous traits are self-evident.

It is a curious fact that such birds as we have left have, by an instinct of self-preservation, largely adopted urban life, and dwell more in the parks, towns and cities than in the open country. This is because of the fact that they are safer in town than in the country. Munici¬ pal ordinances, generally, forbid the discharge of fire arms within corporate limits, while in the rural districts the pot hunter ranges at large, killing the farmers' and orchardists' best friends, without mercy, thus depriving them of nature's safeguard against the ravages of worms and insects.