148 



PR^.COCIAL GEALLATORES — LIMICOL^E. 



Oxyechus vociferus. 



THE KILDEER PLOVEE. 



Charadrius vociferus, Linn. S. N. etl. ]o, I. 1758, 150 ; ed. 12, I. 1766, 253. — WiLS. Am. Orii. yil. 



1813, 73, pi. 59, fig. 6. — Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 22. — AuD. Orn. Biog. III. 1835, 191 ; V. 1839, 



577, pi. 225 ; Synop. 1839, 222 ; B. Am. V. 1842, 207, pi. 317. 

 ^'jilitis vociferus, Boxap. Comp. List, 1838, 45. — Cassin in Biaird'.s B. N. Am. 1858, 692. — 



Baikd, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 504. — Coues, Key, 1872, 244 ; Check List, 1874, no. 397 ; 



2d ed. 1882, no. 584. 

 Oxyechus vociferus, Keicii. Sy.st. Av. 1853, pi. xviii. — Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 516. 

 Charadrius lorquatus, Lixx. S. X. I. 1766, 255. 

 Charadrius jamaicensis, GuEh. S. N. I. 1788, 685. 



IIab. The wliole of temperate North America, migrating in winter into tropical America as I'ar 

 as New Granada ; West Indies in general ; Bermudas ; River Avon, England (tide ScL., Ibis, 

 1862, 275 ; one specimen taken April, 1857). 



Sp. Char. Adult : Pileum and iipper parts generally, grayish brown, inclining to umber ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts ochraceous-rufous, lighter on the latter. Forehead and broad super- 

 ciliary stripe, throat, nuchal collar, and lower parts, white. Fore part of the crown, loral stripe, 

 continued toward occiput, collar round neck, and band across breast, black. Primaries dusky, the 



inner quills marked on outer webs with white. Tail chiefly pale ochraceous-rufous, variegated 

 with wliite, dusky, and grayish, chiefly toward the end. Bill black ; iris dark brown ; eyelids 

 (in life) orange-red or scarlet ; legs and feet pale pinkish grayish, or pale grayish yellow. 



Young: Similar to the adult, but feathers of the upper parts more or less conspicuously mar- 

 gined with pale rusty or fulvous. 



Downy Young: Upper parts generally, including pileum, light grayish brown, the two areas of 

 this color bounded all round by l)lack, a wide collar of which crosses the jugulum, and, extending 

 across the nape beneath a broad white collar, completely encircles the neck ; a broad bar of velvety 

 black down the middle of the Immeral region, and a narrow, more interrupted stripe of the same 

 down the rump. Forehead, throat, lower parts generally, " Jiand-wing," and posterior border of 

 the humerus, pure white ; the flanks and crissum more isabella-color ; a narrow black line run- 

 ning from the rictus to the eye. 



Total length, about 10 inches ; extent of wings, 20.50 ; wing, 6.50 ; tail, 3.50. 



The Killdee, or Kildeer Plover, has a wide distribution throughout the continent, 

 and breeds, wherever it is found, from Central America, IMexico, and Southwestern 

 Texas, to the plains of the Saskatchewan. It is more abundant in some parts of the 



