more buzzards appeared, and before long the three were circling directly over 

 our heads. From the moment that they had come into view I had not seen a 

 single stroke of the wing. The birds simply rode on the air. There was 

 something majestic in their soaring flight. If the turkey buzzard were as 

 interesting a creature at close range as he is at a distance, there are few birds 

 whose acquaintance would be better worth cultivating. 



After a while I saw one of the buzzards leisurely flap his wings, and then 

 launch out once more upon his sailing flight. As a matter of experiment I 

 sTngled the bird out with my eye from his fellows, took out my watch, and 

 sat down on a stump. Twenty minutes passed before that buzzard found it 

 necessary to gain new soaring power from another wang-stroke. One of the 

 birds dropped down to a point wathin thirty yards of us just as we were pass- 

 ing a farm yard. The yard was full of chickens, and w^iile the ordinary hen 

 is always ready to give a cluck of fear when a bird as harmless as a pigeon 

 passes over, these fowls paid no attention whatever to the big bird whose shadow 

 was thrown over them. The chickens' ancestors doubtless had learned the 

 harmless character of the buzzard, and the knowledge w^as one of the hereditary 

 properties of these particular barn yard fowls. 



With a courage born of hunger the doctor and I rapped at the door of a 

 farm house and asked if we might have some dinner. The answer was a hearty, 

 "Yes, and welcome, if you'll wait until we can cook it." 



We were not only willing to wait, but were glad of a chance to rest. We 

 took station on the porch, in front of which stood a tree that was full of wood- 

 pecker holes. This farm house was twelve miles from a railroad station, and 

 the nearest neighbor w^as three-quarters of a mile away, yet here in this isolated 

 spot were the English sparrows in scores. This pest is thought to be city- 

 loving, but here it was perfectly at home miles away from its supposedly favorite 

 haunts. Every woodpecker's hole in the tree had a pair of sparrows in it, and 

 each pair was busy building a nest. When I thought what those holes would 

 mean as home sites for the bluebirds that we had passed on our way, I was 

 ready to eject the Britishers without notice. A farm hand told me that the 

 sparrows had been about the place for three years. He said that the bluebirds 

 disappeared the year that the foreigners arrived. 



The recollection of that southern Indiana farm house dlinner is with me 

 yet. We ate in a long, narrow room, which had at one end a huge, old-fash- 

 ioned fireplace with twelve great cordwood sticks crackling and blazing aw^ay 

 in its ample interior. Although the sun was warm, there was a chill in the air 

 that made the fire grateful. I had not seen the equal of that fireplace blaze 

 since early childhood in the far away East. Our hostess gave us to eat of 

 everything that a farm produces. It was a dinner bountiful beyond precedent.. 

 It was a perfect delight to us when we were asked whether we would have 

 cofifee or sassafras tea. Of course we took sassafras tea. 



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