CHARADEIID^ — THE PLOVERS — vEGIALITIS. 151 



ing to Audubon — to run " like a Kildeer " lias in some parts of the country passed 

 into a proverbial phrase. This bird is also equally active on the wing, and mounts 

 at pleasure to a great height in the air with a strong and rapid flight, which can be 

 continued for a long distance. Sometimes it skims (^uite low over the ground, and 

 at other times mounts to a great height ; aad during the love-season it is said to 

 perform various kinds of evolutions while on the Aving. 



Its note consists of two syllables, resembling in sound kill-dee, rapidly enun- 

 ciated; and occasionally, when the bird is much excited, only the last syllable is 

 repeated after the first utterance of the double note. Generally it is sounded in a 

 loud, clear tone, and as a signal of alarm. It not unfrequently startles other birds 

 and puts them on their guard, this habit rendering the Kildeer an object of dislike 

 to the hunter. During the summer — especially wlien it is breeding, and afterward, 

 even when its young are fully grown — the Kildeer is a noisy and restless bird, and 

 is disturbed by the near approach of man. It will often squat until one is close 

 upon it, and will then suddenly fly up or run off, startling the unwary intruder by 

 a loud and clear cry. According to Audubon, during the winter it is an unusually 

 silent bird. At this season it is found dispersed over the cultivated fields in Florida, 

 Georgia, the Carolinas, and other fSouthern States, diligently searching for food. 



It is said to breed in Louisiana in the beginning of April, in the Middle States 

 in May, and on the Saskatchewan in June. Its nest is of very simple construction, 

 and is usually a mere hollow in the ground, without any lining, or with merely 

 a fcAV bits of dry grasses. Occasionally it is said to construct a nest of grass in a 

 bunch of plants, but this is very rarely done. Wilson mentions having seen nests 

 of this species with small fragments of shells forming a rim around the eggs. 

 During incubation the parents alternate in sitting u^jon their eggs, and do not leave 

 them day or night, differing in a marked manner, in this respect, from the melodus 

 and the Wilsoni The young run about the instant they leave the shell. If the 

 nest is approached during incubation, or when the young are in danger, both parents 

 resort to various manoeuvres to entice away the intruder : the female droops her 

 wings, utters plaintive notes, and simulates lameness; the male is more demon- 

 strative, and dashes about his head with angry vociferations. 



The eggs are usually four in number, never more — so far as known to us — 

 and very rarely less. They are pyriform in shape, being much rounded at one 

 end, and pointed at the other. Their ground, when the Qgg is fresh, is a rich cream- 

 color, fading into a dull white, over which are profusely spread blotches of varying 

 shape and size, of dark purplish brown, approaching black. These increase in size 

 toward the larger end, and cover a greater proportion of it, but are finer and more 

 scattered elsewhere. They measure 1.65 inches in length by 1.13 inches in their 

 greater breadth. 



Genus -SIGIALITIS, Boie. 



^(jialitis, BuiE, Isis, 1822, 558 (type, Charadriiis hiaticula, Linn.). 



yEgialites, Boie, Isis, 1826, 978. 



u^giaUus, Reichenb. 1. c. (type, Charadrius semipalmatus, Bonap.). 



Leucopolius, BoxAP. Compt. Rend. XLIIL 1856, 417 (type, Charadrius leucopolius, Wagl.= C. mar- 



(jinatus, ViEiLL. ). 

 1 Cirripedesmus, Bonap. Compt. Reud. 1856, 417 (type, Charadrius cirrhipedesmtcs, Wagl. = CJi. vion- 



goliciis, Pall.). 



Char. Similar to Oxijechus, but the species of smaller size, with shorter and less graduated 

 tail (less than half as long as the wing), and rump concolor with the back (grayish). 



