KILLDEER (Oxyechus vociferus) 



Length, lo inches. Distinguished by its 

 piercing and oft-repeated cry — kildce. 



Range : Breeds throughout tlie United States 

 and most of Canada : winters from central 

 United States to South America. 



Habits and economic status : The kildeer is 

 one of the best known of the shorebird family. 

 It often visits the farmyard and commonly 

 nests in pastures or cornfields. It is rather 

 suspicious, however, and on being approached 

 takes flight with loud cries. It is noisy and 

 restless, but fortunately most of its activities 

 result in benefit to man. The food is of the 

 same general nature as that of the upland 

 plover, but is more varied. The kildeer feeds 

 upon beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, 

 bugs, caddis flies, dragonflies, centipedes, spi- 

 ders, ticks, oyster worms, earthworms, snails, 

 crabs, and other crustacea. Among the beetles 

 consumed are such pests as the alfalfa weevil, 

 cotton-boll weevil, clover-root weevil, clover- 

 leaf weevil, pine weevil, biilbugs, white grubs, 

 wireworms, and leaf beetles. The bird also de- 

 vours cotton worms, cotton cutworms, horse- 

 flies, mosquitoes, cattle ticks, and crawfish. 

 One stomach contained hundreds of larvae of 

 the saltmarsh mosquito, one of the most trou- 

 blesome species. The kildeer preys extensively 

 upon insects that are annoying to man and in- 

 jurious to his stock and crops, and this should 

 be enough to remove it from the list of game 

 birds and insure its protection. 



UPLAND PLOVER (Bartramia 

 longicauda) 



Length, 12 inches. The only plainly colored 

 shorebird which occurs east of the plains and 

 inhabits exclusively dry fields and hillsides. 



Range : Breeds from Oregon, Utah, Okla- 

 homa, Indiana, and Virginia, north to Alaska; 

 winters in South America. 



Habits and economic status : This, the most 

 terrestrial of our waders, is shy and wary, but 

 it has the one weakness of not fearing men on 

 horseback or in a vehicle. One of these meth- 

 ods of approach, therefore, is nearly always 

 used by the sportsman, and, since the bird is 

 highly prized as a table delicacy, it has been 

 hunted to the verge of extermination. As the 

 upland plover is strictly beneficial, it should 

 no longer be classed as a game bird and al- 

 lowed to be shot. Ninety-seven per cent of 

 the food of this species consists of animal 

 forms, chiefl}' of injurious and neutral species. 

 The vegetable food is mainly weed seeds. Al- 

 most half of the total subsistence is made up 

 of grasshoppers, crickets, and weevils. Among 

 the weevils eaten are the cotton-boll weevil, 

 greater and lesser clover-leaf weevils, cowpea 

 weevils, and biilbugs. This bird devours also 

 leaf beetles, wireworms, white grubs, army 

 worms, cotton worms, cotton cutworms, saw- 

 fly larvje, horseflies, and cattle ticks. In brief, 

 it injures no crop, but consumes a host of the 

 worst enemies of agriculture. 



BLACK TERN (Hydrochelidon nigra 

 surinamensis) 



Length, lo inches. In autumn occurs as a 

 migrant on the east coast of the United States, 

 and then is in white and gray plumage. Dur- 

 ing the breeding season it is confined to the 

 interior, is chiefly black, and is the only dark 

 tern occurring inland. 



Range: Breeds from California, Colorado, 

 Missouri, and Ohio, north to central Canada ; 

 winters from Mexico to South America; mi- 

 grant in the eastern United States. 



Habits and economic status: This tern, un- 

 like most of its relatives, passes much of its 

 life on fresh-water lakes and marshes of the 

 interior. Its nests are placed among the tules 

 and weeds, on floating vegetation, or on musk- 

 rat iiouses. It lays from 2 to 4 eggs. Its food 

 is more varied than that of any other tern. So 

 far as known, it preys upon no food lishes, 

 but feeds extensively upon such enemies of lish 

 as dragonfly, nymi)iis, tisii-eating beetles, and 

 crawfishes. Unlike most of its family, it de- 

 vours a great variety of insects, many of wliich 

 it catches as it flies. Dragonflies, May flies, 

 j^rasslioppers, predaceous diving I)eetles, scara- 

 Incid beetles, leaf l)eetles, gnats, and other flies 

 are the princii)ai kinds preyed upon, h'islies 

 of little economic value, chiefly mimiows and 

 nuunmicliogs, were found to c<)m])()se ^^u\\ a 

 little more than 19 per cent of the contents of 

 145 stomachs. The great consumption of in- 

 sects by the black tern places it among the 

 beneficial species worthy of protection. 



FRANKLIN'S GULL (Larus franklini) 



Length, 15 inches. During its residence in 

 the L^nited States Franklin's gull is practically 

 confined to the interior and is the only inland 

 gull with black head and red bill. 



Range : Breeds in the Dakotas, Iowa, Minne- 

 sota, and the neighboring parts of southern 

 Canada ; winters from the Gulf coast to South 

 America. 



Habits and economic status : Nearly all of 

 our gulls are coast-hning species and spend 

 comparatively little of their time in fresh 

 water, but Franklin's is a true inland gull. Ex- 

 tensive marshes bordering shallow lakes are 

 its chosen breeding grounds, and as many such 

 areas are being reclaimed for agricultural pur- 

 l)oses it behooves the tillers of the soil to pro- 

 tect this valuable species. When undisturbed 

 this gull becomes quite fearless and follows 

 the plowman to gather the grubs and worms 

 from the newly turned furrows. It lives al- 

 most exclusively upon insects, of which it con- 

 sumes great quantities. Its hearty appetite is 

 manifest from the contents of a few stomachs: 

 A, i-7 nymphs of dragonflies; B, 340 grass- 

 hoppers, -^2 hugs, 3 beetles, 2 wasps, and i spi- 

 der : C. Sj beetles. S" bugs, 984 ants, and i 

 cricket, i grasshop|)er, and 2 spiders. .Vbout 

 four-lifths of the tot.il food is grasshoppers, a 

 strong point in favor of this bird. C)ther in- 

 jurious creatures eaten are biilbugs. squash 

 inigs, leaf-hoppers, click beetles (adults of 

 wireworms), May beetles (adults of white 

 grubs), and weevils, l-'ranklin's gull is prob- 

 alilv the most heneticial bird of its group. 



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