336 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1915. 



Other observers in the North Platte country corroborate the obser- 

 vations of Mr. Wheeler as to the comparative infrequencj'^ of this 

 bird north of the Platte River during these flights of the seventies, as 

 compared with the enormous flocks found in the South Platte region. 

 Removing from Omaha to West Point in 1869, Prof. Bruner recalls 

 that though he noted the birds each spring the flocks were usually 

 much smaller than the enormous flights seen at Omaha, usually con- 

 sisting of 50 to 100 birds, though occasionally of considerable size. 

 Year by year the birds decreased in numbers, until by 1878, in which 

 year Prof. Bruner entered the services of the Government, they were 

 seen only in small flocks or individually here and there. During these 

 eight or nine years he mounted several of these curlews, three or four 

 for the university museum (all of which have since disappeared), a 

 pair for the Omaha Deaf and Dumb Institute, and a pair for the 

 Union Pacific Railroad Co. 



Mr. L. Sessions moved to Madison County in May, 1871, and his 

 acquaintance with the Eskimo curlew began at that time. The birds 

 were then very abundant and could be found moving about over the 

 burnt prairie or an occasional plowed field, in search of food. The 

 flocks were not large, about 30 or 40 birds in a flock, on the average, 

 and the banding together of numerous flocks such as occurred in the 

 South Platte feeding grounds was not observed in Madison County, 

 which furnished no special attraction as to feeding grounds. During 

 these days food was somewhat scarce in Nebraska, and many of the 

 settlers were led to look forward to this spring flight of the curlews 

 as a helpful source of food supply. Mr. Sessions possesses a specimen 

 of this curlew which was secured in these early days, for he has not 

 seen a living bird for many years now, nor has he had any sent him to 

 be mounted. 



Mr. W. A. Elwood, who as a boy hunter in the seventies shot quite 

 a number of these birds in Antelope County, states that they were 

 numerous in flocks of 30 or 40 birds, appearing about the first week 

 in May and remaining only a very short time, just long enough to 

 feed. He has not seen the bird for the past 20 years or more. Mr. 

 A. J. Leach, of Oakdale, remembers these birds passing northward 

 in the spring during the seventies while he was plowing for corn, 

 probably from the middle to the last of April. These flocks consisted 

 of from 20 to 40 birds, and they used to alight on the plowed ground 

 and stubble lands to feed. He also has not seen an Eskimo curlew 

 for a quarter of a century past. Mr. Sanders, a guide and old hunter, 

 of Clarks, who lived at Silver Creek up to the early nineties, told 

 Mr. P. I. Hoagland that in the early days the birds were very abun- 

 dant there, as much so as the passenger pigeon in the East, and that 

 hundreds would be shot in a single day. 



