BIRDS OF PEASEMARSH 



distinguished) told that the fish had been 

 caught and away the great bird flew to the 

 nestlings beside the stream in the swamp. 



The stately Crane added much to the pictur- 

 esqueness of the landscape. It was the touch 

 of life which nature had given to complete the 

 picture. How beautiful such spots must have 

 been years ago before its beautiful, unfortunate 

 cousin, the White or Whooping Crane, had 

 been slaughtered for its feathers, and when it, 

 too, stood in the shallow water watching for fish 

 for its babies, and adding its wonderful beauty 

 to nature's picture. 



It is to be hoped that before all our beautiful 

 birds are gone we shall realize that they are 

 treasures in our keeping and that for our care 

 of them we are responsible to those who come 

 after us. Had the plume-hunter, the feather 

 dealer, the woman who wore the feathers, and 

 the gunner who wanted to shoot every beauti- 

 ful feathered creature he saw realized this in 

 the past, there would be some White Cranes 

 fishing in our streams to-day. 



The Coot is a bird so often mentioned by 

 the poets that the name never fails to call up 

 some picturesque spot by stream or lake. 

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