Head of a Crane

Description

On September 30 Maximiian's party arrived again at Fort Union. In his journal Maximilian noted that it had taken fifteen days to travel the distance downriver from Fort McKenzie, or only half the time it had earlier required to cover the same distance upriver. Maximilian also mentioned that, once ashore, he had time to open his cases of specimens, which had become waterlogged during the return voyage. "This kept us busy for several days," he writes, adding that Bodmer also had time to finish several of his drawings. On October 6 hunters returned to the fort with an assortment of game including a "white crane," the head of which Bodmer sketched on this date. An inscription at the lower left, while giving Fort Union as the location where the subject was observed, carries a September date. Bodmer was at Fort McKenzie in Spetember, so one may suppose that the inscription was added later or that Bodmer forgot what month it was when he made the study. It seems to be the one referred to in Maximilian's journal for October 6.