338 ANNUAL EEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION^ 1915. 



hunt these birds with Mr. Wheeler in the seventies, saw his last 

 Eskimo curlews in 1904 or 1905 on the old York County feeding 

 grounds. Mr. Wheeler himself saw a flock of nine of these curlews 

 in the spring of 1909 or 1910 near Norfolk, Madison County. He 

 was very close to them, and positively identified the birds. 



The last records of collected birds for Nebraska were made in the 

 spring of 1911 and of 1915. On March 22, 1911, while Mr. Fred Geiger 

 was shooting ducks near Waco, York County, two of these birds came 

 flying Ijy within gun range, and both were shot by him. The birds 

 were identified by an old-time hunter, and w^ere then brought to 

 Lincoln and mounted by Mr. August Eiche, in whose collection they 

 are at present. Both birds were females, with well-developed ovaries. 



On April 20, 1911, while hunting at Clarks, within a mile of the 

 field where the large flock had been seen 11 years before, Mr. Hoag- 

 land saw a flock of 8 Eskimo curlews. With little difficulty the 

 entire flock were killed except one bird, which made its escape. The 

 birds were brought to Omaha, and Mr. Hoagland, remembering that 

 in spite of almost continual hunting during the open season he had 

 not seen the bird since the large flock 11 years before, or even heard 

 of its being seen, took one of the birds to Mr. Allabaugh, a taxi- 

 dermist of Omaha, for mounting. Mr. Fred Goodrich, also of 

 Omaha, saw the birds, and when he noted that Mr. Hoagland was 

 about to have one of them mounted said he would like one mounted 

 also. Two birds were put aside for this purpose. Later, on consider- 

 ing the matter, Mr. Hoagland decided to save all of the birds and 

 gave orders to that effect, but they had already been picked by the 

 cook. Both birds were mounted by Mr. Allabaugh April 24, 1911, 

 and one is now in the possession of Mr. Fred Goodrich, of Omaha, 

 the other in the N. O. U. collection, a gift of Mr. Hoagland, through 

 the writer. 



In April 1913, Mr. Mont Wheeler, of Norfolk, and Mr. Paul Hoag- 

 land, of Omaha, were hunting snipe near Norfolk when a flock of 

 six or seven of these birds, flying northwest, passed over their heads. 

 When the birds passed over they were not over a hundred yards high, 

 and the hunters observed them until they disappeared from view. 

 Both Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Hoagland are positive that the birds were 

 the Eskimo curlew, and, considering the extended first-hand experi- 

 ence that both of these men have had with the species, there can hardly 

 be any question of correct identifications. Although no Eskimo cur- 

 lews were noted in 1914, a single bird was killed about 10 miles due 

 south of Norfolk, Nebraska, on the morning of April 17, 1915. The 

 bird was alone when taken. It came into the possession of Mr. 

 Hoagland, who had it mounted by Allabaugh, a taxidermist of 

 Omaha, in whose shop I saw it in May. The taxidermist stated that 



