THE ESKIMO CURLEW SWENK. 333 



As to the destruction in Massachusetts, Forbush ^ says : 

 The decrease of the dongh-birds in Massachusetts during the last century 

 may be explained in part by the continual persecution they suffered here. The 

 arrival of these birds was the signal for every gunner and market hunter on the 

 coast to get to work. The birds were rarely given any rest. Nearly all that 

 remained on our shores were shot, and only those that kept moving had any 

 chance for their lives. As a consequence of this continual persecution the birds 

 probably learned to avoid the New England coast, and most of those that were 

 driven to land by storms left the moment the weather was favorable for a con- 

 tinuance of their flight. Often they came in at night and went in the morning. 



In Texas the Eskimo curlew came in immense flocks on the prairies 

 from 1856 to 1875, after which year the large flocks disappeared.^ 

 Small flocks were seen in 1886 and 1890.^ The last records of the 

 species for Texas were 1902 and 1905, one and three individuals re- 

 spectively.^ The species were first definitely recorded for Kansas 

 from Eussell County in 1874.- In that State these curlews were 

 abundant as late as 1878, but in 1879 their numbers were much re- 

 duced and the birds decreased rapidly.^ There were still a few in 

 the Kansas markets in the early nineties. The last record is for 

 1902.1 



Eastwardly in the interior the birds were always uncommon and 

 disappeared early. The last Michigan record is in 1883.^ The last 

 Ohio record is in 1878.^ The last Wisconsin records are April 27, 

 1899,* and September 10, 1912, the latter specimen a male taken at 

 Fox Lake, Dodge County, Wis.^ The last Indiana record is, with 

 some doubt, April 19, 1890.6 



We have no definite records of the Eskimo curlew in Nebraska 

 during the territorial days, aside from the recollections of the few 

 survivors among our earliest settlers of enormous flights of " prairie 

 pigeons " which passed through the territory each spring. As to the 

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

 statehood the observations of Prof. Lawrence Bruner, who distinctly 

 remembers the flights which occurred in the vicinity of Omaha dur- 

 ing the years 1866-1868, when he was a boy 10 or 12 years old, are 

 indicative. The birds would arrive about the time the later willows 

 began to bloom (latter April), being present in force for a week or 

 10 days only, for by the time all of the wild plum blossoms had fallen 

 (middle May) the birds were gone. Usually the heaviest flights 

 occurred coincident with the beginning of corn-planting time, and 

 enormous flocks of these birds would settle on the newly plowed 



1 Forbush, E. H. Game Birds, Wildfowl and Stiorebirds, pp. 416-432, 1912. 



2 Benson, F. S. Forest and Stream, 2, p. 341, 1874. 



3 Barrows, W. B. Birds of Michigan. 



* Schoenbeck, A. J. Birds of Oconto County, pp. 1-51, 1902. 

 6 Snyder, W. E. AuIj. 30, pp. 269-270, 1913. 

 » Butler, A. W. Auk, 23, p. 274, 1906. 



