128 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



One of the most disagreeable experiences I ever 

 had afield was in moving a dead calf which I found 

 in our woods, about two miles farther south to the 

 location of the black vulture. I hoped by plac- 

 ing that delectable vulture feast near the nest to 

 coax the birds to become so tame that I could 

 picture them feeding on the carcass; but the man 

 who was a tenant on the land spoiled my scheme 

 by burying the calf and ordering me not to make 

 his land a dumping place for the stock that died on 

 mine. I went so far as to tell him that I put the 

 calf there for bird food, but I was afraid to point 

 out the vulture location or explain exactly what I 

 was doing, because there was every probability 

 that he would immediately take his gun and shoot 

 the birds. He was a man who charged me a fee 

 for driving down a lane and following a road 

 through the swamp, which he and the oilmen of the 

 region used every day. I should like to add that 

 he is the only man in all of my years of field work 

 who ever did this. 



On the disagreeable subject of unusual food taken 

 by birds: in company with my brother-in-law, 

 driving from one village to another in southern 

 Michigan I one day watched a red-shouldered 

 hawk killing a snake. He was using the methods 

 attributed to the eagle, which dropped from .aloft 

 the tortoise that struck the head and caused the 

 death of the poet Aeschylus. This very unkind 

 proceeding is described as having taken place in an 



