The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-09-09
"WYNDYGOUL, J. ERNEST THOMPSON
 SETON'S RETREAT

OLu OV O IlkluEAI 1 Tame geese and ducks are one thing and wild geese and ducks are another separated by many generations of ev- olution, but tame wild geese and ducks | are rarity even in the zoos where the wild birds, stunning the eyes of the crowds, oftener than not, droop and die
 But tame, wild geese and ducks live and die, raise their families, fight their, battles, and endure their trou- Dles,s all in complete friendliness for the people they. see at Ernest Thomp- Coscob, Conn. the scene, of the ope1l- ing and final chapters of the natural ist's latest book, Rolf in the Woods" now on the press of Doubleday, Page Tt may not be that they know they are safe, said Seton to a recent vis- itor to Wyndygoul, who caught him between a trip to Europe and a trip to the far West in connection with hls latest work in the Boy Scout move- ment, "but they come here because these woods are their native haunts, they are not molested. they are safe from molestation by man.
 Winter comes and they go South, but they come back here in the spring No, perhaps they don't know they are safe from man here, but they are not attacked by man, and so they come back. Year after year they come but many other kinds of birds.
 There's a rocky bank up on the far side of the lake there where the Phoebe birds have been coming back to meet every year for a long, long time. It's quite possible that the same pair have been coming back to raise their families hnro v1 cot fct piness.''
 And as Seton rowed his visitors up the little, hemlock, surrounded lake called Pipe Slave Lake, from the white oak groves surrounding it, he pointed to rock. There on it's un- not far off we could hear the owners calling to one another-or at least Se- ton could, for he could distinguish the sweet Phoebe cry from the hum dreds of other bird cries heard through those natural woods.
 Far up toward the head of the lake Seton rowed his visitors into quiet shallow marsh where the shade was deep near the bank. A soft "qua-a- ack..' broket the stiffness, and then around the head of a little promon- tory came proud old mallard wild duck with five downy yellow duck Mngs, paddling in her wake, and
 
 mother duck paddled toward the boat quacking to her precious chicks tos follow close.
 See how tame she is,'' said Seton, land yet she may have been to the Gulf of Mexico this winter. She wants to be fed. Too bad, though, there must have been a dozen or more ducklings = they seldom set on less than a dozen eggs" Time was press ing, Seton's secretary was waiting, but the boat was stopped and the au- thor went ashore to feed his feather ed friend, and her brood.
 A little further down on an island we found the lined nest, where the family was matched. Still further on we found couple of big water snakes. 'fI wouldn't wonder said the naturalist, 'ebut what some. of those fellows know something about the rest of those ducklings.'' When he long, and big around in proportion, the love of the ducks got the better of him and he interfered in their bat tie by killing the snake.
 Down on Mary Louise Island not ten rods from Mrs. Seton's Italian gar running down from his broad veran- da, a wild goose built her nest and was matching her brood of young. She was big and strong from her annual flights South and as wild in the sense of freedom as any of her tribe. Yet the boat was rowed directly up to | her from all angles She missed a lit l tie and gave a marvellous exhibition Of fexibility of neck, but she showed no fear. Seton looked at her sadly. l
 "I wonder how it will turn out" he unused, 'sshe went South with her mate last fall, after raising her brood of | goslings here. This spring she re- turned alone. suppose her mate was shot in the South. For days and days she trumpeted up and down the | lake, calling him, and calling him. But he didn't come. These eggs are probably no good.
 1Her mate isn't anywhere about. Last year this same goose was nest ing here I wanted to see how many | eggs she was setting on and was lift ing her off the nest. Suddenly the gam der dropped out of the sky onto my head and shoulders and began a fu- rious attack. Not wanting to have my head split open I left in a hurry"
 In and around the seventeen little | islands of the lake, Seton rowed his | visitors, now stopping to call bird and usually getting an answer so cor rect was his imita tion-and now point ing out the evidence of some tragedy | of the wilds.
 On little Minnehaha island leach was named> by a friend of the naturalist) | Seton recently erected a small artif- ciaI hollow tree with many holes in l. it, and compartments inside where birds and small animals might nest (This is not the big hollow tree, cov- cred, elsewhere) Twenty different | kinds of birds might find homes in the tree he said beside bats, squir- rels, tree mice, etc. Close beside it l was young spruce with heavyl boughs clear to the ground. Underf them Seton pointed out the nest of another wild duck, with the mother bird low breeding in the middle of it.
 As the boat glided on through the narrow channels with no sounds but the cries of the birds to disturb the silence, Seton let the craft drift close to dead tree about fifteen feet high | and on the top of which was affixed a section eighteen inches long, of a much larger tree branch-the whole giving roughly the appearance of a small cask on pole. It was covered with bark, but it was hollow inside.