Allen, Robert Porter
(1905 - 1963) The author worked for the National Audubon Society for over 30 years. He is best remembered for his efforts in saving the nesting grounds of the Whooping Cranes.

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A million years have done little to change the aspect of a hidden pool inside the mangrove. If you don't believe it, crawl with crocodiles and terrapin through the slime and watch the lowly gastropod leave his smooth track beside yours. A million years have not changed them. Best of all, stay out there at night. You will listen to the silence of centuries and you will hear, as I have, the noiseless murmur of the Pleistocene. On the Trail of Vanishing Birds. 1954.

For the whooping crane there is no freedom but that of unbounded wilderness, no life except its own. Without meekness, without a sign of humility, it has refused to accept our idea of what the world should be like. The Whooping Crane, 1952.

When you sit crouched in a blind and watch an adult (whooping crane) stride close by you, his head high and proud, his bearing arrogant and imposing, you feel the presence of a strength and of a stubborn will to survive . . . Ibid.