THE OOLOGIST 



47 



CRANE MIGRATION AT BATTLE 



PRAIRIE, PEACE RIVER 



DISTRICT. 



I suppose the Cranes treated oi in 

 this article were the Little Brown 

 Cranes, but the Owl, two of the most 

 wary birds I ever shot, and which 1 

 intended to identify next morning, 

 were served up in a stew for break- 

 fast and I could not tell whether they 

 were Canadenses or Mexicana by the 

 taste. No doubt some of our learned 

 bird doctors would have had no diffi- 

 culty in deciding, judging from some of 

 the stunts they have performed in 

 this line. 



I found it almost impossible to ap- 

 proach these wary birds near enough 

 for a shot when they were feeding on 

 the large prairies, but on some of the 

 smaller prairies, surrounded by wil- 

 lows, they would feed around and 

 around the prairie in a circle and give 

 an opportunity for a shot as they 

 passed my place of concealment in 

 the willows. On these occasions they 

 looked very much like a flock of Tur- 

 keys and probably this is why they 

 are called "Wild Turkeys" by some 

 hunters. 



In 1916 the first Cranes noted were 

 two large flocks on April 27th. One 

 flock was flying north and the other 

 feeding in the slough. In the fall they 

 were first seen on August 30th, one 

 small flock. On September 1st more 

 were seen, and on the 3rd and 4th 

 several flocks. On the 9th I heard 

 them flying over and on the 15th saw 

 one large flock. They were heard 

 again on the 20th, and on the 22nd I 

 saw several flocks flying over and one 

 flock lit on the prairie. On the 27th 

 and 28th several large flocks were 

 seen flying south, after that none 

 were seen. 



In 1917 they were first seen on May 

 1st, a large flock going north. Ou the 



3rd several large flocks passed over 

 and a flock of two or three hundred 

 lit on the prairie. On May 5th many 

 flocks passed throughout the day and 

 one flock lit. I made an estimate of 

 each flock seen and the total number 

 seen was around three thousand on 

 this day. On the 6th they were stili 

 coming, and I estimated the number 

 passing at about one thousand. 



On the 7th only about one hundred 

 passed and on the 8th none wer^ seen. 

 On the 9th one flock of fifteen passed 

 and on the 10th one lone crane lit on 

 the prairie — none were seen after 

 this. 



In 1918 1 heard a Crane on April 

 13th, but no more were seen or heard 

 until the 28th, when a flock passed 

 over. On the 29th about one hundred 

 and fifty passed over. On May 6th 

 I saw a flock of about two hundred 

 circling slowly down from a great 

 height and alight on the prairie, evi- 

 dently to avoid a wicked looking storm 

 which was approaching from the north. 

 It was a most beautiful sight and we 

 stopped our saddle horses and watched 

 it until they reached the ground. On 

 the 11th I saw two flocks of about one 

 hundred and fifty and two hundred 

 each. The last seen passed on the 

 15th, a flock of about one hundred and 

 fifty. A. D. Henderson, 



Belvidere, Alta., Canada. 



A UNIQUE BIRD TRAGEDY. 



During the past late summer and 

 autumn months (1922) Pine Siskins 

 have occurred in great abundance in 

 Nova Scotia. 



Some weeks ago I was traveling by 

 auto near Bedford and at a point 

 where elaborate road construction was 

 being carried on I was held up by onc- 

 of the workmen, who informed me that 

 a dynamite charge was about to u- 

 fired. He pointed to a pile of brush 



