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Week-Ends in Indiana 
By ESTHER A. CRAIGMILE 
HouUSE GUESTS WERE few at Turkey Run Inn in late January. Service was 
good in the dining room and the food delicious. From our corner table at 
breakfast we could see a popular lunch counter for the birds abundantly 
suplied with sunflower seed. According to custom, only one bird fed at a 
time. A dozen cardinals awaited their turns, all others strictly observing 
the peck right. Chickadees, tufted titmice, and white-breasted nuthatches 
were in the food line.The nuthatch snatched a seed and flew to a nearby 
tree to fasten it in the bark. It hardly took time to eat before it was back 
for another grab. Juncos were conspicuous as they flaunted white tail 
feathers in departing. English sparrows and a fat gray squirrel fed on the 
ground. Red-bellied woodpeckers were numerous in the beech woods. 
We stumbled upon another feeding counter some distance from the inn. 
A pair of red-breasted nuthatches were sampling that. As I turned my 
glasses on them a mockingbird appeared. As it flew it displayed white 
patches on wings and tail. A Carolina wren’s note was heard in the shrubs. 
He was in full song the next morning in the rain. A third feeding shelf 
was discovered with seven goldfinches in winter plumage all facing the 
same direction. Again a squirrel and English sparrows fed on the ground. 
Downy and hairy woodpeckers came for daily rations. Titmice were active. 
Occasional crows were seen and heard. A bob-white whistled near the park- 
ing area. 
The ravine was a picture with sycamore ghost trunks against a back- 
ground of dark hemlock. The great beech trees seemed lovelier than ever 
with animal pictures decorating the trunks. The leafy beech carpet was 
a challenge to those interested in hooked rug design. How I wanted to peep 
under the leafy carpet to find the snow trillium and hepaticas so gorgeous 
in April. Christmas ferns, bright green mosses, and gray green lichens on 
tree trunks were beautiful. Mrs. Flora (W. D.) Richardson is a delightful 
guide among the mosses in the spring. 
I listened for owls in the night, but heard none. Yet I found telltale 
junco feathers on the doorstep in the morning which indicated a fatal 
struggle. Fields along the highway were well stocked with beef cattle, hogs, 
sheep and chickens. I hoped to see a turkey vulture but scanned the sky 
in vain. They return from the south later in the season, I learned. The 
superintendent at McCormick’s Creek State park showed us their nesting 
site one spring in April. Curiosity seekers visit such nesting grounds at 
their own risk. 
While returning to LaGrange Park we saw from the car a few flocks 
of juncos and tree sparrows, two sparrow hawks, a marsh hawk, meadow- 
lark, and three mourning doves on wires. A brilliant bluebird crossed the 
road, just escaping the windshield. Along Lake Michigan herring and ring- 
billed gulls were abundant. Numerous flocks of ducks were too far away 
for identification in the worst ice storm of the winter. 
