Eskimo Curlew 



Prairie Chicken 



The Eskimo Curlew once migrated through the coastal 

 prairies of Texas and the Great Plains in countless num- 

 bers. In spring, immense flocks of the long-legged shore- 

 birds stopped to feed on insects in freshly plowed fields 

 and burned-over prairies. Hunting for the fine-flavored 

 birds was a popular sport and thousands were shot for 

 city markets. The curlews were easily killed because of 

 the habit of a flock staying with a wounded companion. By 

 1892 the great flocks were nearly gone, and the species 

 has never recovered. The last record was a sighting in 

 Argentina in 1937, but hope still remains that a few birds 

 survive. 



Too few people living have ever had an opportunity to 

 see the magnificent Ivory-billed Woodpecker with its 

 shining black plumage and great scarlet crest. It is a shy, 

 wild bird that lives in mature, broad-leaved forests of our 

 southern swamps and river valleys. It was doomed when 

 loggers began cutting the great trees in the river swamps, 

 as its chief food, a beetle grub, lives under the bark of very 

 old trees. There have been no authentic records for sev- 

 eral years. 



Former numbers of the Whooping Crane are a matter of 

 speculation. These magnificent birds, nearly as tall as a 

 man and with a wingspread of almost 7 feet, may not have 

 exceeded 1,400 at the time America was discovered. 

 Traveling in small flocks or family groups, they made 

 their 2,500-mile flights each year through the Great Plains 

 between Arctic nesting grounds and winter quarters on the 

 Gulf coast. By 1938 only 14 remained. They could not cope 

 with the draining of the prairie potholes, plowing under 

 the grasslands, and excessive shooting along their migra- 

 tion routes. Public concern for the future existence of 

 these cranes led to the creation of the Aransas National 

 Wildlife Refuge in Texas on their hereditary wintering 

 grounds. In the fall of 1958 23 adults and 9 rusty-colored 

 youngsters returned to the refuge from northern nesting 

 areas. In all, the whoopers now number 38 birds , including 

 6 held in zoos. 



At one time a million Attwater's Prairie Chickens are 

 thought to have ranged over the coastal prairies of 

 Louisiana and Texas. Today, as the result of pollution 

 from oil drilling, rice farming that destroys their grass- 

 lands, and drought, only a few thousand remain. The 



Whooping crane with 

 her young one 



