226 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Family CHARADRIID.E. Genus .'Egialitis. 



Sub-family CHARADRIIN.^. 



KILLDEER PLOVER. 



^GIALITIS VOCIFERA {LimicEUS). 



(British : Very rare abnormal spring (?) and autumn migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, April, May, and June, 

 according to locality. 



Breeding area : Nearctlc region, except the ex- 

 treme north. The Killdeer Plover breeds sparingly in 

 Mexico, and more generally throughout the United 

 States northwards to Southern Canada, as far as about 

 lat. 53\ 



Breeding habits : The Killdeer Plover is a migrant 

 only in the colder portions of its range, but returns very 

 early in spring as soon as its haunts are free from ice 

 and snow. It is an inland bird, and its favourite 

 breeding grounds are on the prairies on the banks of 

 rivers and lakes, in more or less swampy districts. It 

 is not exactly a gregarious bird during the breeding 

 season, but numbers of pairs nest within a small area 

 of suitable country, and arc to a certain extent social 

 in their habits. This Plover probably pairs annually. 

 The nest is always made upon the ground, sometimes 

 on bare sandy tracts, at others on ground studded with 

 grass and rush tufts. It is merely a hollow in the 

 ground scantily lined with a few bits of dry grass or 

 other herbage, but in some cases even this slight 

 provision is omitted. This Plover is wary at the nest, 

 leaving its eggs at the first sign of danger, just like our 

 own Lapwing, the male usually giving the alarm, flying 

 towards the intruder and uttering its plaintive too it, and 

 soon being joined by most of the other Plovers nesting 



