184 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



It was mid-afternoon when I returned, hot 

 and dusty, and I went for a plunge in the lake. 

 Suddenly, as I was swimming about, the whiff- 

 iff-iff of a powerful wing came to my ear, and 

 there above me was a great, white whooping 

 crane. He was winging over, not thirty yards 

 up, — a rare sight. Doubtless he had mistaken 

 my head for some water bird ; for he was mightily 

 surprised when I stood up and gave him a head 

 and shoulders view. A pity that this magnificent 

 creature — really the grandest of all North Amer- 

 ican birds — is so rare that extinction is facing the 

 species. 



Aug. 19. A lazy day in camp. The bird cen- 

 sus of my clump to-day revealed canaries, yellow 

 warblers, warbling vireos, a tiny flycatcher, flick- 

 ers, kingbirds, pine finches, catbirds, robins, and 

 orioles — truly a goodly company. To-day I 

 made more particular study of the bird raids on 

 the choke-cherry trees. Up to date it has been 

 found that almost all the larger birds eat them. 

 The various species of blackbirds, the crows, 

 jays, robins, catbirds, thrashers, orioles, song 

 sparrows, cedar waxwings, Wilson thrushes, and 

 flickers are all fond of them, and to-day even the 

 kingbird was caught in the act. He was in a, 



