... I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, 



And now my heart is sore. 



All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, 



The first time on this shore, 



The bell-beat of their wings above my head . . . 



WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS 



XIII I We find terra incognita! 



The alertness of Canadian Wildlife Service and Forestry 

 personnel resulted in an eventual solution to the mystery of the 

 whooping crane's Northern nesting grounds, In late June, 1954, 

 a forest fire was reported in a seldom-visited portion of Wood 

 Buffalo Park, north of 60 degrees in Northwest Territories. A 

 helicopter was being used by the fire prevention crew at Fort 

 Smith, and on June 30 pilot Don Landells, with G. M. Wilson, 

 Superintendent of Forestry, as a passenger, was in the air returning 

 from the vicinity of Fire 24. In a swampy area several miles south- 

 east of the fire they observed two large white birds whose appear- 

 ance brought them sharply to attention. Flying in at a lower alti- 

 tude, the two men saw that the birds were undoubtedly adult 

 whooping cranes, and with them wonder of wonders was a 

 rusty-colored juvenile which they described as being about the 

 size of a large rooster. 



A radio report of their momentous discovery was dispatched at 

 once to Fort Smith and received there by William A. Fuller, biolo- 



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