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Title
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Scottsbluff Narratives, 1936_029
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Alternative Title
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1936 Scottsbluff Narratives
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Date
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1936
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Creator
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Frank Shoemaker
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Description
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Frank Shoemaker - Sandhills Narratives
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Identifier
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321301
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Transcription
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2 the grazing of two too many head of cattle to a quarter-section (160 acres) will result in desolation. In the early days, a prairie fire - started by careless campers, or by lightning, or by Indians - simply burned itself out - covering perhaps five thousand square miles. But with the settlement of the country, this has changed. Every autumn, you may read in the dailies, items like this: "Four train-loads of fire-fighters left Hyannis at 6 o'clock this morning, to combat a fire which is sweeping over the western part of Hooker County." Fires are being held to relatively small areas; the sandhills are being conserved, for their immense potentiality. I started my walk at 6:30 p.m., with a couple hours of daylight ahead. The numbers of birds and flowers increased greatly, on entering the sandhills. Bartreamian sandpipers - my first seen for many days - many months! Sandpipers are generally "shore birds," seen along streams and the edges of lakes; but this funny Bartramian is an upland bird, living and nesting miles from water; for which reason, it is called the "upland plover." One of the most entrancing notes in the whole chorus of nature, is the wild cry of this anomalous plover, so high among the drifting clouds that he may not be seen. It is an indescribable "song" - a paeon of ecstasy - one of those glorious units in the symphony of nature which you love and cherish, but which you can not describe. - Pa and Ma Bartramian followed me for a mile; which meant that they had a nest, or youngsters - but it may have been four miles away - try an' find it! - These upland plovers, and their near relatives, the common killdeer plovers, are noisy birds! - they tag and scold you for miles, and it is utterly useless to hunt for their nests - which are generally discovered by sheer luck. I was surprised at the number of pairs encountered, of the sickle-billed curlew. These birds also
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Rights
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To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. These images are for educational use only. Not all images are available for publication.
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Is Version Of
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frank_h_shoemaker_321301-03777.jpg
