68 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



Once I saw a single swallow-tailed kite, and buz- 

 zard hawks were frequent. The wild turkey 

 was reputed to be still a resident along some of 

 the creeks ; I fancy, however, that it was nearly 

 exterminated at that time, a culmination which 

 has undoubtedly ensued. Even then the hunters 

 regarded the killing of a turkey as something very 

 much out of the ordinary, though it is well known 

 to have been one of the most abundant birds in 

 the region when it was first settled. Prairie-hens 

 were still plenty in this part of Missouri, and there 

 were many quail. 



One of the common migrant birds that arrested 

 my attention was the so-called sand-hill crane 

 which I saw frequently and heard on several oc- 

 casions passing over. Once a group of five or six 

 of these birds on the edge of a prairie some 

 quarter of a mile away performed the extraor- 

 dinary manoeuvres known as dances. I had a 

 good look at them, and observed all the bowings, 

 genuflecxions, and pirouettings that have been so 

 admirably described by numerous good observers. 

 The whole was a droll spectacle. 



The work undertaken was completed about the 

 middle of June. Should the reader care for de- 

 tails as to the birds observed in this region, a 

 paper published on the subject is cited in the 

 appended bibliography. It enumerates one hun- 

 dred and forty-eight kinds of birds as the result of 



