232 On the trail of vanishing birds 



against the bank. Best of all, there were two bottles of beer under 

 the stern seat! It was a cold trip upstream, and the river was even 

 higher than it had been in May, with just as many drift logs and 

 great trees floating along in the swift current. At 2 A.M. we 

 landed on the muddy shore just below Fort Smith, having taken 

 seven hours to navigate the forty-four miles. 



At the Hotel Mackenzie we routed out Louie, and he told us 

 that John O'Reilly of the New York Herald Tribune was asleep 

 in an adjoining room, having just arrived. So we immediately 

 woke John and sat down to tell him of our adventures. As he 

 wrote in his paper, ". . . They came through the Arctic twilight 

 up the river by skiff to reach Fort Smith for the third time. I 

 was there to meet them when they came out. In the words of 

 Robert W. Service, Mr. Allen 'looked like a man who had lived 

 in hell/ He was bearded, dirty, and tired, but this time he was 

 grinning." I was indeed! This time I had something to grin about. 



Even more momentous discoveries were in store for us. On 

 July 6, in a light plane with Bill Fuller, O'Reilly, and me as ob- 

 servers, we made a survey flight over the Sass and Klewi Rivers. 

 All told we sighted two pairs of adults, each with twin youngsters, 

 plus a single adult. Altogether, nine whooping cranes. The oc- 

 currence of two broods with two young each was an exciting event, 

 and we wondered if this might not be more normal than we had 

 previously supposed. The fact that few pairs reach Texas with 

 twins might be a result of losses on the migration route. After we 

 had left for home, Bill Fuller continued aerial observations, making 

 six more flights, with the final one on October 12. The largest 

 number of whooping cranes seen on a single flight was on Septem- 

 ber 12, a total of 11 adults and 6 young, 17 in all. It was a great 

 surprise to me that as many as 6 adults and 2 young were still 

 present in the nesting area as late as October 12. 



As October drew to a close and November was at hand we 

 wondered how many of the little band would make it safely to 

 Texas. At Aransas Refuge, Julian Howard was prepared to under- 

 take the careful counts that are his important contribution to 

 these joint efforts. By October 27, 13 cranes had arrived. Then, on 

 November 3, a ground count on the refuge revealed two pairs 



