31 A giant of beauty and grandeur 



is also much evidence of a growing determination to do some- 

 thing about the problem. 



An editorial in the Christian Science Monitor, in commenting 

 on the whooping-crane situation, expressed the opinion that our 

 civilization, although outwardly unaffected, does not wholly sur- 

 vive the needless extinction of a species. "Can society," this editor 

 writes, "whether through sheer wantonness or callous neglect, per- 

 mit the extinction of something beautiful or grand in nature with- 

 out risking extinction of something beautiful and grand in its own 

 character?" 



And the whooping crane, tallest and most imposing, as well as 

 the rarest, of North American birds, is in truth both beautiful 

 and grand. An adult male stands nearly five feet tall and has a 

 wingspread of seven and one-half feet. His carriage is proud and 

 alert, and this, with the cold yellow brightness of his eye, is elo- 

 quent testimony of his fierce, untamed, and fearless nature. The 

 plumage is a satiny white, except for the jet black of the wingtips. 

 The female is similar in appearance, but slightly smaller and more 

 gentle in character. The head, which is usually held high so as to 

 look an alien world squarely in the face, is bare on the forehead 

 and crown except for sparse, black, hairlike feathers. The exposed 

 skin is a carmine red, as is that of the cheeks and the space between 

 the eyes and bill, but there is a heavy, black "mustache" of bristle- 

 like feathers across each cheek, rich and glossy in a healthy adult. 

 The heavy, spear-shaped bill is pink or flesh-colored at the base, 

 dark olive green on the middle portion, and a yellowish-olive color 

 on the tip. The legs are black and so are the upper sides of the 

 toes, which are flesh-color beneath. 



As in other species of cranes, the tertials, or innermost series 

 of flight feathers, are longer than the primaries and are exquisite 

 and plumelike. They trail over the after tips of the folded wings 

 and can be raised over the back at will in certain types of display. 



The young whooper begins life as a downy chick with cinnamon 

 and russet-brown colors on the back and grayish buff beneath. As 

 a juvenile in its first feathers it is a brown to almost pinkish buff 

 in over-all color, with white beginning to appear on the lower 



