CHAPTER XII 



THE BIRD-DIARY OF LONE TEPEE 



LOXE TEPEE was really a little tent, 

 pitched amid the elms bordering a lake in 

 western Manitoba, and it sheltered a lone, 

 though not a lonely, camper. From the stand- 

 point of the social camper — the afternoon-tea- 

 and-calls sort — the thing was a rank failure, but 

 for the study and companionship of the wild- 

 woods creatures it was ideal. If we would really 

 know these creatures, how necessary it is to keep 

 quiet, while near them, leaving the .22 rifle, the 

 dog, even your chum, sometimes, elsewhere, — 

 unless he has learned the golden value of holding 

 his tongue. 



Oak Lake is circular and holds five and six- 

 mile stretches of water. On three sides there is 

 prairie ; on the fourth and east, a large strip con- 

 taining several hundred acres is well wooded 

 with ash-leafed maple, poplar, and grand old 



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