Xebrashd Ornithologists' Union 41 



Ogallala to Grant, a fellow passenger living near Ogallala 

 told Swenk of having seen three swans that morning on the 

 Platte river near town. He stated that he believed that the 

 birds were nesting somewhere in the vicinity. Earlier in the 

 season there had been four of these birds, but several days 

 previously, on June 14, this man had shot one of them and 

 captured it alive. He stated that the wounded bird was 

 being kept alive at a farm house near Hershey. The three 

 surviving birds were being kept under surveillance by a 

 ranchman named Stansbury, who was searching for the nest. 

 Swenk did not have an opportunity to verify this report, 

 but as swans are known to have formerly nested in western 

 Nebraska the apparently disinterested statements of this 

 man have great plausibility.) 



2. Botaiirus loitiginosns (JMontagu) — Bittern. 



On July 5, 1911, Zimmer tiushed a pair of bitterns from 

 the river bottom near Haigler where they had been con- 

 cealed in a clump of reeds. 



3. Helodrouias solitarins (Wilson) — Solitary Sandpiper. 



Evidently a summer resident, though its breeding in this 

 region is doubtful. One was noted on a sandbar in the Re- 

 publican near Benkelman by Swenk, July 23, 1903, and sev- 

 eral individuals were seen along the Arickaree near Haig- 

 ler by Zimmer, July 5, 6, and 7, 1911. 



4. Bartramia longicauda (Bechstein) — Upland Plover. 



Both Swenk and Zimmer found these birds comr.ion on 

 the plateau between Grant and Imperial, June 22, 1905, and 

 July 1, 1911. On the latter date Zimmer found these birds 

 the most plentiful of all the species present and usually the 

 only ones in sight back in the hills south of Imperial miles 

 away from water. Often in approaching too near a nest for 

 the continued peace of mind of the owners they would 

 rise in the air, circling closely around with rapid wing-beats 

 and giving their simple liquid call perhaps a little more 

 rapidly than usual. Once the danger was past with a 

 querulous note or two the birds would settle back to reas- 

 sure themselves that all was safe. At Haigler Swenk heard 

 these birds flying over during the night of July 24, 1903, 

 and Zimmer saw six of them July 7, 1911, some distance 

 west of town. 



5. Oxyechus vocifcnis (Linnaeus) — Killdeer. 



A common bird of the region. Swenk found birds with 



