Dushenka

We've never wanted to be sent to Siberia, but we wouldn't mind going to it if there are any more at home like Dushenka. To be sure, Dushenka was born in the West -- in Baraboo, Wisconsin, which is about as far from Siberia as you can get , in more ways than one. But she is a Siberian crane, the first one bred in captivity. And, besides making an endangered species a little less endangered, she could give Siberia a good name. Look at that deep young eye, that ungainly grace.

Certainly she hasm a good name. Dushenka! It calls up Danny Kaye saying, "Ah , my little Karzink!" It calls up the affectionate tone of a Russian aunt speaking to some little dear one. The kind of tone the human species could use more of as, unlike the cranes, it has to cope with overcrowding.

Now we want to find out more about the Siverian crane. Surely, like all the cranes we know, it is a swell dancer. Okay, maybe we haven't practiced enough to match those leaps of 15 to 20 feet in the air that many cranes make -- out a sheer exuberance, say some observers. But the vision of a new Siberian crane in Baraboo ought to give the world a nudge toward fun and friendship.

Dushenka, may we have this dance?