ESKIMO CURLEW 127 



destruction. Ernest Gibson (1920) saw "some 20 or 30 * * * in 

 the vicinity of Linconia," near Buenos Aires, on February 13, 1899 ; 

 and a small flock was reported in the same locality on A^oril 8, 1901. 

 He evidently has seen none since then. Mr. Forbush (1925) has recently 

 given us the latest news from Argentina in a letter from Dr. Roberto 

 Dabbene, in which he writes that five or six were seen in the Province 

 of Buenos Aires on February 7, 1924 ; one of these was captured and 

 another solitary individual was taken at the same place on January 

 11, 1925 ; both of these specimens are in the Museo Nacional de His- 

 toria Natural, at Buenos Aires. These and the other recent records 

 may indicate that there are a few Eskimo curlews still living; but 

 the species is reduced to such a low ebb that it is doomed to speedy 

 extinction, if not already gone. 



One need not look far to find the cause which led to its destruction. 

 On its breeding grounds in the far north it was undisturbed by man. 

 And I can not believe that it was overtaken by any great catastrophe 

 at sea which could annihilate it; it was strong of wing and could 

 escape from or avoid severe storms; it could, like all shore birds, 

 swim if necessary; and its migration period was so extended that no 

 one storm could wipe it out. Several other species of shore birds 

 make similar, long ocean flights without apparent disaster. There is 

 no evidence of disease or failure of food supply. No, there was only 

 one cause, slaughter by human beings, slaughter in Labrador and 

 New England in summer and fall, slaughter in South America in 

 winter and slaughter, worst of all, from Texas to Canada in the 

 spring. The gentle birds ran the gauntlet all along the line and no 

 one lifted a finger to protect them until it was too late. They were 

 so gentle, so confiding, so full of sympathy for their fallen compan- 

 ions, that in closely packed ranks they fell, easy victims of the 

 carnage. 



Spring. — It was as a migrant only that we knew the Eskimo cur- 

 lew. As to how it reached the United States from southern South 

 America Vv-e know very little ; but it probably f ollov,' ed the same route 

 taken by its companion the golden plover. It arrived in Texas early 

 in March and migrated northward through the prairie regions, 

 mainly west of the Mississippi River, through central Canada and 

 the Mackenzie region to the barren grounds on the Arctic coast. It 

 was rare in spring east of this narrow belt, and practically unknown 

 west of it. The flight through the United States was mainl}^ accom- 

 plished during April and through Canada in May, arriving on its 

 breeding grounds before the end of May. 



Professor Swenk (1915) writes: 



As to the abundance of these birds in Nebraska during the early years of its 

 statehood the obyervations of Prof. Lawrence Bruner, who distinctly remembers 

 the flights which occurred in the vicinity of Omaha during the years 186G-18G8, 



