Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1947-03-07
Mystery of the
Whoopin9 Crane

'"cOPu8 SEuHe
AS a whooping crane detective I
am not worth a whoop. This per-
haps is natural since I have no Gre
dentials as naturalist. But in the
course Of leading the Fish and Wild
Life service on a wild crane chase
encountered some interesting
facts.
This Is the story:
While I was In Florida I heard
some convincing descriptions of
whooping cranes, said to be found on
nearby plantation. I knew the
whooping crane rapidly was becom-
ing extinct and I had never heard
OF any Of them having been seen in
Florida so, when I returned to
Washington, I Immediately commu-
nicated my discovery" to Mr.. Lin
coin, ornithologist of the Fish and
Wild Life service of the department
of the interior. He was very polite
and patient and even agreed to ask
Mr.. Kelsey, one Of the departments
representatives, to interview my
wife, who was still in Florida, as to
the reports which she had first-hand.
It wasn't long before heard from
my wife that as result of further
consultation with the Audubon Bird
Book and a very short conversation
with Kelsey, there was unanimous
agreement that the cranes were not
whoopers but must be sandhills. It's
an old story to the service but they
take no chances and run down all
clues. Even if the only proof the
"discoverer" has is the earnest in
sistence that: 81 know it was q
whoopin' crane because I heard him
a'whoopin'."
Part Of the reason for these metic-
ulous inquiries is that the service is
at present conducting a survey in
hope of locating the nesting place
of the whooping cranes. This spot
never has been found, but it almost
certainly is somewhere in Canada.
Lincoln doubts that there are more
than so of these birds alive today
although there are records showing
that the skies over the western
plains once were darkened by the
flights of hundreds, even thousands,
of them. If, like the passenger
pigeon, they disappear entirely,
North America will have lost its tall.
est as well as one of its most BEAU
tiful birds.
The whooping crane stands over
four feet tall, has Widespread of
seven feet and flies with neck and
legs out straight. It has white
plumage except for black tips on
the wings; has black legs and yellow
bill and a bare red crown.
A little less than two years ago
National Audubon society ap-
preached the government and Of
fered to furnish funds for the
working out of a joint survey, the
purpose of which was to locate the
breeding grounds and other points
where the cranes gathered in order
to arrange for their further. protec-
ton. The one place in the United
States where cranes are known to
pass their summers is the national
wild life refuge near Corpus Christi,
Tex.
No nest of a whooping crane is
known to have been seen within 20
years or perhaps longer. The birds
have been observed passing over the
Dakotas, Manitoba and Saskatche-
wan and it is taken for granted
that somewhere north of these points
the nesting grounds are located:
None has been discovered although
one government plane and a plane
belonging to collaboration Ia col
laborator Is person paid by some
private institution but who is per-
mitted to use department of the in
terror facilities) have flown over
many thousands of square miles in
this area.) Every possible effort has
been made to locate the nest for it
is here that protection is most i'm
portant.