THE KILLDEER 101 



A killdeer^s nest is not the easiest thing to see. It is 

 simply a shallow depression wallowed into the ground, 

 and may or may not be lined with a few straws. This 

 nest had no lining. The eggs were thickly speckled and 

 so closely matched the pebbles in the soil that, even when 

 I saw the nest, it was hard to distinguish the eggs at a 

 distance of ten feet. We walked up within three or four 

 feet of the nest ; but as we did not touch the eggs and 

 finally went away, I am quite sure that the mother believed 

 that we did not find it. This bird laid four eggs and sat 

 on them for days; then one morning about nine o'clock 

 she came off the nest and lo, four little fuzzy, blackish 

 brown and white mottled balls of down begun to run over 

 the ground after her. I never see young killdeers but their 

 small bodies and long legs make me think of the toy ani- 

 mals I used to make when a child by sticking sticks into 

 small potatoes or match straws into peanut shells. 



While these little creatures are colored so nearly like 

 the ground, they are more easily seen than young quails of 

 similar age. They do not stay in the nest like most birds, 

 nor do they always follow the mother closely like the young 

 quail, tho they are often with her. They often straggle 

 across the field as they will, usually keeping near the nest- 

 ing place. When the mother bird comes to find them 

 she utters her call, alights on the ground and starts run- 

 ning about, chattering, while they come running for what- 

 ever she may have. These little fellows do not seem 

 to be in the least afraid of man. I do not know whether 

 it is because they have not been disturbed for so many 

 years, for I never was fortunate enough to see young kill- 

 deers until the past few years, but I have never seen any that 

 tried very hard to get away when I wished to catch them 



