130 On the trail of vanishing birds 



flies in the salt-flat grass close to the brackish-water pond. In the 

 rain pools here and there the water boatmen were numerous. For 

 more substantial fare the cranes walked farther out on the salt 

 marsh where blue crabs were the chief item sought. Once Jo 

 went to the salt pond and fed quietly with several foot-poking 

 snowy egrets. After she had fed for some four or five minutes she 

 stood very straight, stared at the snowies as if seeing them for the 

 first time, and then ran toward them belligerently, so that they 

 flew off. One day when Pete was probing around on the higher 

 ground, where painted buntings were singing beautifully from the 

 mesquite brush, he came on a large rattlesnake, half coiled on a 

 patch of bare ground. Pete walked up to him and started dancing 

 up and down, wings flapping. Around and around the snake he 

 went, the reptile's head turning slowly to watch him. After a few 

 minutes Pete broke the impasse by suddenly walking off. On an- 

 other occasion, however, he attacked a large cottonmouth moc- 

 casin, beat it to death by stabbing furiously at its head, and then 

 proceeded to swallow it entire, which was a tall order and must 

 have required fully ten minutes to accomplish. 



In addition to feeding, the guard bird spent a lot of time coping 

 with real or imaginary dangers. Most of this consisted of chasing 

 off other birds, especially American egrets, snowy egrets, Ward's 

 herons, Louisiana herons, and roseate spoonbills. Pete was devoted 

 to this particular duty and wouldn't tolerate these birds within 

 several hundred yards of the nest. I saw him chase the larger egrets 

 as far as the north end of the salt pond, which was nearly a mile 

 away. Once, when he was getting all set to run off a group of 

 egrets, a Ward's heron came flying over and settled in the water 

 nearby. Pete immediately turned to face this more formidable, 

 but actually disinterested and altogether harmless intruder. He 

 gave several war whoops, strutted stiffly and with elaborate dig- 

 nity, lowered his spearlike head and charged, running forward with 

 great strides and flapping his wings rapidly. He fairly skipped 

 across the water and was very close to being airborne. The poor 

 heron, glaring at this juggernaut with an expression of dismay, as 

 well he might, waited until what seemed the last minute and 

 then flew. With only one good wing, Pete usually ended the chase 



