. . . The -whooping cranes still dance, but unless -we 

 are able to discover some means of assisting them to 

 gain a much improved nesting and rearing success they 

 will not dance much longer. It will be the end of the line. 



R. P. ALLEN * 



IV * The whoopers still dance 



The whooping cranes undertake prodigious preparations for 

 their spring departure so remarkable, in fact, that they must be- 

 gin soon after the birds have settled down for the winter season, 

 which usually has been accomplished by late November. I wanted 

 to see as much of these rituals as I could, but as the season pro- 

 gressed I had still been unable to get really close to them. These 

 attempts culminated that first winter in the construction of a 

 very special sort of blind. We had seen how the cranes walked 

 by a group of cattle without batting an eye, and it occurred to 

 me that if I could just conceal myself inside of something resem- 

 bling a cow well, you get the idea. I hate to say this, but it was 

 a bum steer! And I wasted a lot of time finding this out. Back at 

 Refuge Headquarters, with Russell's ever-willing help, I put the 

 thing together. Because of their immense size we decided on a big 

 red Santa Gertrudis bull as our model, and first of all we con- 

 structed a light framework of wire in the rough form and vague 

 * Audubon Magazine (1947). 



48 



