73 Mr. E. Gibson on the Ornithology of [Ibis, 



by the long silence in my diary. And mygroAving fear that 

 I have witnessed the passing of the Esquimo Wliimbrel (so 

 far at least as this locality is concerned) has been confirmed 

 by the following article on the snbject {' The Ibis/ Tenth 

 Series, vol. v. No. 4, p. 680, October 1917), which I crave 

 the Editor's indulgence for quoting at length : — 



'^ SWENK ON THE EsKlMO CuRLEW. 



" [The Eskimo Curlew and its disappearance. By Myron 

 H. Swenk. Smithsonian Report for 1915, 1916, pp. 325- 

 340; 1 pi.]. 



"It appears likely that the Eskimo Curlew {Numenius 

 horeaUs) will shortly share the fate of the Passenger Pigeon 

 and the Great Auk and disappear entirely from our living 

 avifauna. First described by Forster from Hudson's Bay in 

 1772, the Eskimo Curlew breeds in the Barren Grounds of 

 Mackenzie in the arctic regions of North America, and has 

 a very remarkable migration route to and from Argentina — 

 its winter home. 



" In the spring migration these birds pass north through 

 the Mississippi valley, rarely if ever occurring on tlie Atlantic 

 coasts. After the breeding-season is finished, late in July 

 or early in August, they move south-eastw^ards to Labrador, 

 Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia, whence they pass across 

 2000 miles of ocean, direct to the Lesser Antilles and thence 

 down the Brazilian coasts to their winter home. It is only 

 occasionally after a heavy gale that some birds reach the 

 New England coasts, while a few have rarely been driven by 

 westerly gales as far as the coasts of the British Isles. 



" During the past few years, however, the Eskimo Curlew, 

 formerly arriving in immense flonks in the middle prairie 

 States in tiie spring, has become rarer and rarer. The last 

 record for Kansas is 1902 and for Wisconsin 1899, while in 

 Nebraska, of which Mr. Swenk writes at great length, a 

 flock of six or seven were seen in 1913 and a single bird was 

 killed on 17 April, 1915. The bird is probably not yet 

 extinct, but is on the high road to extinction, and will 

 doubtless become so in a few years' time." 



