125 Rusty 



lessly, by a boy "from the East." Mr. Oliver writes me that he 

 hadn't worried about Bill because he did not foresee a boy 

 from the East out with a gun, "a boy who had never seen a 

 crane, goose or duck before." I imagine that these are the fellows 

 who have killed most of our lost whooping cranes. They are 

 without knowledge, without understanding and without pur- 

 pose. Now we are without Bill and nearly all of his kind. Mr. 

 Oliver's story will convince you that we are much poorer because 

 of this loss. Much poorer than most of us seem to know. 



Yet, in spite of the appealing nature of these birds in captivity, 

 our object cannot be to acquire a pen full of "Bills." No matter 

 how attractive and interesting they can be under such circum- 

 stances, they are not whooping cranes in the fullest sense. Their 

 wild spirit and fierce nature tamed, their majestic flight denied, 

 the thrilling drama and mystery of their annual migrations abruptly 

 stemmed these things cannot be permitted. Of course, the two 

 injured birds already in our hands were another matter altogether. 

 If they were capable of boosting the stock of living whoopers by 

 a single unit it would be well worth our trouble. And theirs too, 

 I felt, for the life we planned for them would be infinitely better 

 than the solitary and even stifled existence they had been leading. 

 Whatever happened, they would at least have one day in the sun! 



In the fall of 1948, with the consent and cooperation of George 

 Douglass in New Orleans, the two cranes were carried by truck to 

 Texas. Careful plans had been made for their reception at Aransas 

 Refuge. We had selected a tract of 150 acres of brackish marsh 

 that approximated a typical winter territory, and that adjoined, for 

 good measure, a fresh-water cattail marsh that was biotically sim- 

 ilar to the whoopers' wilderness nesting habitat. A sturdy nine-foot 

 wire fence surrounded the entire tract. The location was an isolated 

 one, yet was within a few minutes, by car, of refuge headquarters. 

 The birds were taken first to the San Antonio Zoo, where Fred 

 Stark, who has had remarkable success in breeding animals of 

 many kinds in captivity, including certain cranes, was ready to 

 look after them following their long journey. Finally, in October, 

 they were released in the Aransas enclosure. With a deep sigh 



