108 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
In the following spring he had the satisfaction of catch- 
ing several pewees on their nests farther up the creek, 
and of “finding that two of them had a little ring on the 
leg,” proving that the young of a migratory bird, steer- 
ing by the “compass” which is carried in its brain, did 
sometimes return to its home region, if not to the actual 
cradle or home site. 
Across the Philadelphia road, which today leads to 
the little railway station, and not more than a quarter 
of a mile from Audubon’s farmhouse, stood another but 
more pretentious mansion of the Colonial era, called 
“Fatland Ford,” pertaining to an extensive farm of 
that name which was noted for the fertility of its alluvial 
acres. A road from the present village of Audubon to 
the Schuylkill River and the ford runs through the “Fat- 
lands of Egypt,” as the most productive parts of this 
old farm were then called. From the house could be seen 
the camping grounds of the Revolutionary soldiers, 
and James Vaux, its owner and builder, is said to have 
entertained General Howe at breakfast and to have 
shown him the room which General Washington, his 
guest of the previous day, had left just in time to avoid 
an introduction. 
Shortly before Audubon reached “Mill Grove,” 
William Bakewell, an Englishman who had emigrated 
to New Haven in 1802, bought this farm, and with his 
wife and family took possession in the winter or spring 
of 1804.11 Of the six Bakewell children, the two eldest, 
Lucy Green and Thomas Woodhouse, were but three 
years younger than the naturalist. The senior Bake- 
well, said Audubon, called at “Mill Grove” to pay his 
respects, but being then from home, and having brought 
with him a Frenchman’s dislike for everything English, 
4 See Note, Vol. I, p. 99. 
