THE SILENT DANCER 83 



saw the first flock of sandhill cranes. These cranes never 

 nested in our part of the country, tho formerly they 

 nested in parts of Iowa and Illinois. Later they confined 

 their nesting to the sand hills of North Dakota and West- 

 ern Nebraska. There are a goodly number of small lakes 

 in that district, and it was in that region that the sandhill 

 cranes have made their home for ages. Later still, they 

 seldom bred even there. The territory lying between the 

 Missouri river and the Mississippi has always been a 

 favorite flying place for migratory birds. Located as we 

 were between the Mississippi and the Des Moines rivers, 

 we were in the regular beaten path of the sandhill cranes. 

 From the South they came up the Mississippi river and 

 then followed the Des Moines directly across the State of 

 Iowa until they came to the Missouri and followed it up to 

 the vicinity of their nesting grounds. In this way they 

 could always find plenty of food and water. 



As these birds came south in the fall they often stopped 

 in the cornfields and filled up on corn before going on. 

 Oftentimes a bluster of cold in the sand hills would start 

 them southward; but as this cold wave did not reach as 

 far as southeastern Iowa, they found it convenient to loiter 

 along the way, as food was more abundant there than 

 it would be when they reached their winter home. Occa- 

 sionally they alighted in the wheat fields on their trip 

 northward in the spring. This was especially true if there 

 came a few days of cool weather after they had started 

 north. 



We usually think of the long-legged, long-billed birds as 

 waders, and expect them to feed on fish and other water 

 animals; but the sandhill crane feeds to a considerable 

 extent on grain and grasses. 



