120 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



had been slightly wounded, while on wing with his 

 flock, and had taken to the river as his only means 

 of travelling when he could not fly. 



In nay present location, in the summer of 1917, 

 a pair of loons nested on the lake shore about half 

 a mile above the Cabin, making the only nest I 

 have had personal experience with in Indiana. 



In the winter of 1902, a farmer living near the 

 Limberlost region brought to the Cabin the body 

 of a large white Arctic owl which he had shot 

 while it was perching on one of his fences. We 

 sent the bird, its feathers a moving mass of tiny, 

 red lice, to a taxidermist, and it came back beauti- 

 fully mounted. No doubt it is still in this man's 

 possession. That same winter the papers described 

 the finding of a number of these birds in Ohio and 

 Indiana, where they were most uncommon. 



A sister, who was with me at the time I definitely 

 decided to make my permanent home on the 

 lake where I live to-day, declares that I paid the 

 purchase price for an acre of blue-eyed grass, 

 which I acquired with my holdings. She is only 

 partly right. A wood duck also figured in the 

 equation. Two different times I saw him riding 

 the water dressed like the favourite of the Shah 

 of Persia. He floated among the lily pads of a 

 small bay on the bank of which his mate nested, 

 only a few rods from my purchase. So I bought 

 the wood duck and the blue-eyed grass, with a 

 wealth of tall hardwood trees for good measure. 



