File:Outing (1885) (14595035708).jpg

Identifier: outing29newy (find matches)
Title: Outing
Year: 1885 (1880s)
Authors:
Subjects: Leisure Sports Travel
Publisher: (New York : Outing Pub. Co.)
Contributing Library: Tisch Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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thful part, for thesoft wind sets from the south and theice-bound river feels that its time of de-liverance is at hand. In the latitude of Northern Illinoisthe Mississippi, as a rule, breaks up be-tween the first and the fifteenth ofMarch ; and, as that time draws near, theduck cranks, as they are termed, areon the qui vive, and ever)? soft, warmday finds them gathered on the banksand gazing upon the black, rotting ice,or scanning the heavens for the firstglimpse of the advance guard. The daily papers are watched for re-ports of the river below; guns andshells are made ready, and, at length,the word is passed around that the ice ismoving. They then know that the firstflight is on ; for it is a curious fact thatthe ducks arrive almost as soon as thereis a break in the ice. How the fowl manage to make theirappearance so quickly no one knows ;but time and again I have observedthem streaming northward and circlingaround the islands in the river within afew hours after the ice had started.
Text Appearing After Image:
Painted for Outing by James L. Weston. A FIERCE NORTHWESTER WAS RAGING. 536 OUTING FOR MARCH. Mallards and pintails always consti-tute the vanguard of feathered pioneers.Ever abreast of the breaking ice, theyare frequently driven back by a freezingblizzard, only to resume their northernflight when the storm abates, so strongis the force that governs their migra-tions. Pintails have a predilection for over-flowed cornfields and meadows, wherethey congregate by thousands for a dayor two to rest and feed. Then they dis-appear as suddenly as they came. Mallards, however, prefer the acorns,which, together with the roots of aspecies of water-willow, constitute theirfavorite spring food ; consequently theygather in the timbered sloughs andlow swales bordering on the Mississippi,where the pin-oak and willow abound. The duration of the flight dependsupon the stage of water. If the river islow when the ice breaks, feed will bescarce and the ducks tarry but a day.But if the river be high enough

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