10 THE, AUD U'BOW? 5 UE Lehi 
“Undesirable” Birds and Seventeen-year Locust 
By PAUL B. Ris 
SILENT WATERS, a country home in the true sense of the word, is situated 
several miles from one of the largest industrial cities in Illinois. For three- 
fifths of a mile its frontage borders a little traveled country highway. 
A two-million-gallons-a-day creek flows steadily throughout the seasons and 
meanders through a broad and pleasant valley in the northern part of the 
grounds, a valley which this stream has carved since the last ice sheet 
from the prairie plateau seventy-five feet above. Wooded hills rise sharply 
from the creek, hills that are abundantly covered with magnificent climax 
trees, of bur and white oak and a scattering of other monarchs of their 
kind, walnut, elm and maple. The forest floor is a remnant of native 
vegetation which has survived a generation of grazing. It is gradually 
recovering and repaying its protection with softly-gay colors peculiar to 
our native flora. Underbrush, thorns and nurse trees dwarfed by browsing 
are now thriving unchecked in woodlands and flowered glades. Thus Silent 
Waters, with its many native values, lends itself well as a well balanced 
retreat for wildlife. 
A few sheep in a fenced pasture, domesticated mallards, colored 
muscovy and Rouen ducks enliven pasture and lagoon. Grass and brush 
fires are automatically controlled by broad cinder lanes. The cutting of 
grass is strictly confined to lawns, restricted human-use areas and hay 
lands. Four lagoons along the length of the valley floor, covering several 
acres with water, are supplied from a voluminous, deep well, their overflow 
alone in any way connecting them with the creek. Cat-tail, rush, flag, 
arrow-head, jewel-weed, vervain, sneezeweed, great lobelia, asters and 
golden-rod and many other native plants carpet the shores of the creek and 
lagoons, a glorified, native idyll, lush, verdant and bright with seasonal 
colors, untrod and unmarred by human occupation. 
The procession of transient birds through Silent Waters starts with 
the early hawks, followed by the grebes, mallard, black duck, the teals, 
shoveller, pintail, wood duck, the scaups, golden-eye, bufflehead, sora rail, 
gallinule, great blue heron, woodcock, killdeer and many others. And there 
are the summer residents, which build and raise their brood here. Stridently 
the belted kingfisher plies his trade up and down the valley, red-winged 
blackbirds have chosen the reedy shores of the lagoon, the green and the 
black-crowned night heron, killdeer, solitary sandpiper, pheasant, quail, 
upland plover, loggerhead shrike, red-bellied woodpecker, cardinal and 
bobolink, successfully raise their young here. 
Bird feeding at Silent Waters is a year round function. Stray cats 
and dogs are not tolerated and wildlife readily senses the security of this 
domain. Frequently we note fox, opossum, mink, weasel, skunk and 
muskrat; and deer twice left unmistakable tracks. The generous response 
to our effort is most gratifying. Thus the winter feeding table is bright 
with color of hairy, downy and red-bellied woodpecker, blue jay and cardinal, 
tree sparrow, junco, brown creeper, white-breasted and red-breasted nut- 
hatch, tufted titmouse and chickadee. Sixteen blue jays once made a 
common call and it is not unusual to see ten or more at a time picking 
