108 NOTES FROM THE PRAIRIE 



direction. I had a great desire to possess a pet 

 crane, but every attempt to raise one resulted 

 in failure, all on account of those same slender 

 legs. 



"The egg I placed under a 'sitting hen' 

 (one was as much as a hen could conveniently 

 manage); it would hatch out all right, and I 

 had no difficulty in feeding the young crane, 

 for it would eat anything, and showed no shy- 

 ness — quite different from a young prairie- 

 chicken; in fact, their tameness was the cause 

 of their death, for, like Mary's little lamb, 

 they insisted on going everywhere I went. 

 When they followed me into the house, and 

 stepped upon the smooth floor, one leg would 

 go in one direction and the other in the oppo- 

 site, breaking one or both of them. They 

 seemed to be unable to walk upon any smooth 

 surface. Such ridiculous looking things they 

 were ! I have seen a few pure white ones, but 

 only on the wing. They seem more shy than 

 the yellow ones. 



"Once I saw a curious sight; I saw seven or 

 eight cranes dance a cotillon, or something 

 very much like it. I have since read of wild 

 fowl performing in that way, but then I had 

 never heard of it. They were in a meadow 

 about half a mile from the house; I did not at 

 all understand what they were doing, and pro- 

 ceeded to investigate. After walking as near 

 as I could without frightening them,- I crept 

 through the tall grass until I was within a rod 

 of the cranes, and then lay and watched them. 



