216 FIELD SHOOTISa. 



usually about the tenth of March, and stay a month. 

 Like the wild geese and ducks, cranes frequent the 

 corn-fields for the purpose of feeding. The few 

 nests made in Illinois contain but two eggs, and 

 one of the old birds is always on the watch near 

 them. They return in the fall about the same time 

 as the wild geese, but do not then fly so high as 

 in the spring ; perhaps it is because many of them 

 are young birds. In the fall they are first seen 

 out on the prairie, and a very unwelcome sight it 

 is" to the farmer ; for they are very hard on his crop 

 of corn, much of which is then cut up and shocked 

 in the fields. Boys arc employed to keep them 

 away. I have often seen large pieces of corn-land 

 in shock when all the ears on the outside had been 

 shelled and eaten, not a kernel left. They stay 

 as long as the wild geese, which is until real hard 

 weather sets in.. Cranes are easy birds to shoot 

 when you can get a fair shot at them, but they are 

 wary and shy, keeping a good lookout all the 

 time. It is of no use to lie down in corn for them. 

 They can see further and better than any • other 

 bird I know. The immense height at which they 

 fly in the spring has convinced me of this. To 

 shoot them, when they have been shot at and made 

 shy and wary, one of two methods must be fol- 



