76 On the trail of vanishing birds 



frightful toll represented 45 per cent of all whooping cranes that 

 had died or been killed since the year 1938. 



As late as 1952 we still did not know the exact location or nature 

 of the breeding grounds, but we knew the migration route pretty 

 well. It was our conclusion that most of these losses were taking 

 place along this route, chiefly in the fall, with some possibility of 

 stray, nonbreeding birds getting mixed up with people like our 

 Saskatchewan farmer friends in late summer, prior to the fall 

 flight. The autumn migration route becomes dangerous as soon as 

 it reaches the limit of northern settlement in Alberta and Sas- 

 katchewan. There are a few potential danger points farther to the 

 north, on the shores of Great Slave Lake and along the Slave, 

 Peace, and Athabaska Rivers perhaps, but local conditions are 

 such that we do not worry too much about them. The real threat 

 begins as soon as the birds have passed to the south of the Beaver 

 River in west central Saskatchewan. From that point on across the 

 well-populated prairies to Rice Lake west of Saskatoon, Swift Cur- 

 rent, Weyburn, and other towns and villages in that province, 

 and on into North Dakota, the possibility of danger is constant. 



Actually, the whooping cranes have no greater army of friends 

 anywhere than in Saskatchewan, thanks to the general apprecia- 

 tion of nature by most of the residents, and to the splendid work 

 of such outstanding citizens as Fred Bard, the director of the 

 Provincial Museum in Regina. But it takes only one man or boy 

 with one gun to kill one or more whooping cranes. At Rice Lake, 

 for example, where the birds frequently come to earth, the pro- 

 tective attitude of the general public has been reported by items 

 in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. When whoopers were observed on 

 Rice Lake, which is 20 miles away, a reporter rushed to the scene. 

 His photograph of two of the birds appeared next day on the front 

 page, under a headline in red ink: STAR-PHOENIX PHOTOGRAPHS RAR- 

 EST BIRD IN WORLD, WHOOPING CRANE. Almost one-half of the front 

 page was taken up by the story that followed. A second item, two 

 days later, told how "hundreds of Saskatonians" visited the lake 

 over the weekend to see the birds, and related that requests had 

 been received from papers all across Canada seeking more details 

 and pictures. 



