86 
BIENNAL REPORT 
always associated with the Long-bills, except upon one occasion, when I found 
a flock of eight by themselves in spring migration, it being then early in April. 
Only a single bird was obtained, but a number found their way into the taxi¬ 
dermist’s collections. And from time to time I have found specimens of this species 
in those places. They are more frequently obtained in the autumnal than in the 
vernal migrations, and except as above, invariably mingle with the other species. 
I know nothing of their habits beyond the fact of their presence in migration in 
very limited numbers.” Whether this account is reliable is a matter of conjec¬ 
ture. W. W. Cooke in Bird Migration, Mississippi Valley, 1884-5, gives a record 
for Heron Lake, “May 1, ’84,” reported by Thomas Miller, which was not based 
on capture. Miller’s intentions were always honest, but he was not sufficiently well 
informed to make accurate specific observations in such a matter as this. Here the 
question stands. It is perhaps too late to obtain further more definite information. 
Anderson in his Birds of Iowa, 1907, after quoting the Miller record for 
Heron Lake, says: “I have a female specimen of the Hudsonian Curlew in my 
private collection, shot on the prairie south of Crystal Lake, Hancock County, 
May 25, 1895.” This locality is only a short distance south of the southern 
boundary of Minnesota. 
ESKIMO CURLEW. This bird, now long since absent from Minnesota, for¬ 
merly passed northward in the spring in great numbers through the western Mis¬ 
sissippi Valley on its way from its winter home on the Pampas of southern South 
America to its breeding grounds on the Barren Lands of the far north. It dis¬ 
appeared as rapidly during the latter part of the last century as did the Passenger 
Pigeon and Golden Plover and for the same reason—slaughter in immense numbers 
by market hunters and thoughtless sportsmen. The birds were killed chiefly in the 
Mississippi Valley as they went north. They flew in large close flocks like Plover, 
were easily decoyed and returned again and again to the blind so that but few of 
a bunch escaped. The return trip to its winter quarters was by a long oversea 
flight from Newfoundland to South America, like the Golden Plover. It is now 
considered almost extinct everywhere. A very few individuals have been seen 
or taken along the Atlantic coast since 1900 and none in the interior. 
Agersborg, writing of the birds of what is now' southeastern South Dakota 
in 1885 {Auk, Vol. 21, p. 287), says: “In spring often very abundant.” It was 
taken at Burlington, Iowa, by Paul Bartsch, April 5, 1893 (Anderson, Birds of 
Iowa), The Minnesota records are as follows: Hatch in 1876, says: “Is found 
to be abundant in season in some parts of the state, especially the northwestern.” 
And in 1880, “not rare,” while the brief account in his “Notes,” 1892, is indefinite 
and without data. Cantwell in his list of 1890 says: “Commonest of the Curlews. 
Seen only during migration,” but this is from hearsay. Thomas Miller reported to 
the Biological Survey at Washington two records from Heron Lake, “April 3, 1884, 
and April 24, 1885.” It is evident that it disappeared from the western part 
of the state, where it was without doubt once abundant as a spring migrant, before 
that region was explored to any extent by bird students. No Minnesota specimens 
are known. 
PLOVERS ( CJiaradriidae ). 
Five members of the Plover family are to be credited to Minnesota, but only 
a single species—the common Killdeer—now occurs in any considerable numbers, 
