Alice Lindsay Price, a devoted naturalist, has for the past twenty years joined the scientific pursuit of avian scholarship to her lifelong passions of painting, writing, and literature. Here, she brings into focus the wealth of human lore, both scientific and cultural, to portray the survival into the twenty-first century of the two North American Crane species, the Sandhill and the Whooping Crane. Her comprehensive display of facts and lore interwoven into her own observations in the field -- as well as those of scientists and naturalists working to save the species from extinction -- remind us how essential is our awareness of the natural world. The book is illuminated with illustrations and photographs by the author, and with a wide assortment of historical images from Cretan bird goddess to petroglyphs to Audubon.