Pilgrimage to Bird Haven 
N THE 18th of May a party of six started in an automobile from 
() Berwyn, a west side suburb of Chicago, to drive to Olney for the 
purpose of visiting Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ridgway at their home, 
Larchmound, and Bird Haven. The party consisted of Mr. Benjamin T. 
Gault, for many years authority on the birds of northern Illinois and 
author of the “Check List of the Birds of Illinois”; Mrs. W. D. Richard- 
son, actively associated with bird conservation in and around Chicago, 
former president of the Chicago Ornithological Society; Miss Catharine 
A. Mitchell, one of the best known conservationists and bird lovers 
among the members of the Chicago Woman’s Club; Mrs. E.. T. Baroody, 
a recent acquisition to the Chicago group of Bird Enthusiasts, who for 
years had for her bird study region the Mississippi River and its wooded 
banks at Savanna, Illinois; Mr. Edward F. Hulsberg, of La Grange, 
naturalist during the summer for a number of years at Culver Military 
Academy, and one of the best whistlers of bird-notes in the middle west, 
and the president of the Illinois Audubon Society, Mr. Orpheus Moyer 
Schantz. 
One of the objects of the pilgrimage was the exhibition of the Ridgway- 
Bird Haven film at the convention of the Illinois Federation of Women’s 
Clubs at Danville. The film was shown to a representative group of 
women interested in conservation and accompanying the exhibition a 
statement was made of the object for which the film was taken, viz., the 
creation of a memorial fund which will have for its object the taking 
over and care of Bird Haven as a wild life sanctuary in honor of the 
greatest ornithologist in the United States, Robert Ridgway. 
Owing to the copious rain fall the country along the route was beauti- 
ful beyond description. At Danville the party stopped long enough to 
visit the new Vermilion Lake created for the purpose of furnishing water 
for the city of Danville and having the appearance already of being a 
natural part of the landscape. 
In this region a few beeches are found and the frontispiece of the 
Bu vetin shows the wonderful beauty of young beech trees. 
On the lake shore the home of Mr. and Mrs. Alden F. Barker has been 
located with a view looking up the lake which it would be difficult to 
surpass in Illinois. By the location of bird feeding stations the birds 
have already found a welcome abiding place and Vermilion Lake and its 
shores will soon become one of the most attractive places for bird study 
in Central Illinois. 
The continuation of the journey to Olney and Danville was made 
under very trying circumstances; for at seven o’clock a terrific storm 
broke which continued for more than five hours, making the driving 
very slow and dangerous until the party reached Lawrenceville, the 
first town where shelter could be found. 
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