THE ESKIMO CURLEW SWENK. 337 



In the eighties the Eskimo curlew began decreasing rapidly. Ap- 

 parently many of the birds moved their line of migration to the 

 westward. Gunners reported flights passing through Grand Island, 

 Kearney, and North Platte after they had practically disappeared 

 from eastern Nebraska, but no specimens are extant to verify these 

 reports. April 2, 1884, the species was reported from Alda, Ne- 

 braska.^ Rev. J. M. Bates informs me that Warden D. A. Piercy, of 

 All Saints' Church, at Kennedy, Cherry County, states that during 

 the first years of his residence there, 1885-1887, the Eskimo curlew 

 was as common as its congener, the long-billed curlew. In 1889 Rev. 

 Bates saw a mounted specimen of this bird in a store near AVood 

 Lake, Cherry County, which had been taken near that place. In 

 1889 Mr. Charles E. Holmes, now of Providence, Rhode Island, 

 reported the Eskimo curlew as common locally in the hills about 

 40 miles south of Ainsworth, Brown County, though they were de- 

 creasing and many were killed by cowboj^s." 



By the nineties the Eskimo curlew was so reduced in numbers that 

 hunters rarely met with it, and there are no records of specimens 

 taken during the next 20 years, though it was repeatedl}^ reported 

 as seen by competent observers. In 1896 Mr. I, S. Trostler reported 

 the Eskimo curlew as still a " common " migrant at Omaha, giving 

 its dates as April 1 to 20 in the spring and October 1 to 15 in the fall. 

 On April 12, 1896, Mr. J. S. Hunter saw a pair of Eskimo curlews 

 near Stevens Creek, several miles east of Lincoln. It might also 

 be mentioned here that about 1897 Mr. P. I. Hoagland saw a flock 

 of these birds near Laramie, Wyoming, so late in the spring that he 

 wondered if the birds could be expecting to nest there. 



About the middle of xVpril, 1900, Mr. Paul I. Hoagland and his 

 father, of Omaha, were hunting near Clarks, Nebraska, when a large 

 flock containing 70 or 75 birds flew across the road and disappeared 

 over the hill. Mr. Hoagland, sr., recognized the birds as the Eskimo 

 curlew, and both men started toward the place where the birds were 

 last seen. They saw a newly plowed field and made toward it and 

 found the entire flock on the freshly plowed land busily engaged in 

 picking up grubs and insects turned up by the plow. The birds were 

 entirely unsuspicious and permitted the hunters to approach as close 

 as desired. The flock was flushed, and each hunter made four shots, 

 obtaining in all about 34 of the birds. None of them was saved as 

 a specimen. This was written up by Mr. Sandy Griswold in the 

 Omaha World-Herald at the time, but he called the birds " golden 

 plover," which they are not. 



Mr. C. W. Tinker, a hardware merchant, of Waco, who used to 



1 Cooke, W. W. Bull. 2, Division of Economic Ornitliology, p. 98, ]SS8. 



2 Forbush, E. H. Game Birds, Wildfowl and Shorcbirds, pp. 416-432, 1912. 



18618°— SM 1915^^ 22 



