I belong to a family that is fast disappearing, simply because my plumes
are pretty. The ladies must have them to trim their hats and bonnets, so
the plume hunters visit our "rookeries" when our mates are on their nest,
and kill hundreds and hundreds of us.
Our nests are great flat, bulky affairs, made of sticks and lined with
grasses. We build them in high trees along the rivers, or way back in the
swamps, a dozen or more in one tree.
We "go fishing" every day; but not for sport as you boys do. No, indeed, we
must get a catch or go hungry. Our long bills are better than a hook and
line, and our long legs enable us to wade in the water without getting our
clothes--feathers, I mean,--wet. Fish, frogs, and crawfish make up our
diet, and as we have very healthy appetites it takes a great many of them
to make a meal.
Like some other birds I have more than one name. _Blue Crane_, _Little
Blue_, _Little Crane_, _Skimmer_, and _Scissorsbill_. Some people call me
"gawky." Is that a name, too?
To see us standing on one foot, by the margin of a stream, the very picture
of loneliness, you would little imagine what gay birds we are just before
the mating season in the spring.
In order to show off our best points before the lady-birds, off we all go
to some secluded spot, form a circle or ring, in which each male bird in
turn performs his showing off act. We skip, flap our wings, curve our
necks, and prance around, the lady-birds expressing their approval by deep
croaks, something like a bull-frog's, while the envious cocks keep up a
running fire of remarks in the rasping tones of a horse-fiddle.
Each performer when his act is done, resumes his place in the circle, and
so it goes on, till every male has displayed his accomplishments and good
looks before the lady-birds. Then we return to our feeding grounds, and
nose around in the water for our supper.
It does sound odd to hear a bird of my size talk about flying, doesn't it?
But in truth my body is very light, weighing between four and five pounds.
I am long from bill to tail, and my wings are very long and curving.
My legs? Oh that is a matter I dislike to talk about. They certainly speak
for themselves.
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