THE ESKIMO CURLEW SWENK. 335 



Marshall Field ranch in Madison Coiint3% following a heavy south 

 wind, birds which seemed to have been driven past their feeding 

 grounds by the wind were seen flying southwardly, xerj close to the 

 ground, apparently going back to this South Platte feeding ground. 

 The birds used to come in about the 18th to the 25th of April, all 

 arriving between these dates, and would remain until about the 15th 

 to the 25th of May. Early in the season, when they first arrived, 

 they would frequent the burnt-over prairies, where they would occur 

 in flocks of from a dozen to 300 or 400. As the season advanced the 

 different smaller flocks' would bunch up until as many as a thousand 

 birds had assembled, but this assemblage was obviously made up of 

 many small flocks. In later years, when these prairies commenced to 

 be extensively broken up and farmed, the curlews used to feed a great 

 deal in the open wheat fields, and toward the last they were found 

 very frequently in tame meadows. 



In hunting these curlew the field glass was used l)y the hunters to 

 follow their flights. The fields where they were prone to gather were 

 patroled many times during the day, and carefully scanned with the 

 glass to discover the flocks on the ground. When the birds came in 

 they would be up quite high, perhaps from 200 or 300 yards to a quarter 

 of a mile, and in preparing to alight they would turn and wheel, tow- 

 ering in the air while they whistled softly, would hover a while, and 

 then all drop and come down, flying along over the ground for a short 

 distance before alighting. The birds would always alight all at once 

 and very close together, and if the clay were warm they would sit 

 down very close together on the ground, forming bunches, when they 

 could be readily discovered with the field glass and approached close 

 enough to get a shot. 



There was no difficulty in getting quite close to the sitting birds, 

 perhaps within 25 or 35 yards, and when at about this distance the 

 hunters would wait for them to arise on their feet, which was the 

 signal for the first volley of shots. The startled birds would rise and 

 circle about the field a few times, affording ample opportunity for 

 further murderous discharge of the gims, and sometimes would re- 

 alight on the same field, when the attack would be repeated. Mr. 

 Wheeler has killed as many as 37 birds with a pump gun at one rise. 

 They weighed just about 1 pound each wdien they were fat. Some- 

 times the bunch would be seen with the glass alighting in a field 2 or 

 3 miles away, when the hunters would at once drive to that field with 

 a horse and buggy as rapidly as they could, relocate the birds, get out, 

 and resume the fusillade and slaughter. On rainy days the birds 

 would fly restlessly from one field to another, moving about in this 

 way most of the day, and seeming unusually plentiful because of be- 

 ing so much in the air. 



