FAMILY CharadriidcB 



plumage, however, the underparts are 

 unmarked. 



The nest of the spotted sandpiper is a 

 shght depression in the ground lined with 

 fine grasses. It is usually placed near the 

 protection of a bunch of grass or at the foot 

 of a small bush, though sometimes in the 

 open among the pebbles and driftwood on 

 the beach. The three or four pear-shaped, 

 sharply pointed eggs, thickly mottled with 

 all shades of gray, olive-green and black, look 

 very much like a part of their surroundings. 



FAMILY CHARADRIIDM: PLOVERS 



^73 Killdeer, Oxyechus vociferous, 10.75 

 Distribution: Whole of temperate North 

 America from southern Canada south to the 

 Gulf of Mexico. Breeding throughout its 

 range. In winter from the southern border of 

 the United States to northern South America. 

 The killdeer, killdee, or killdee plover is a 

 bird of fresh rather than salt water and may be 

 found about the shores of streams, lakes and 

 ponds from sea level to high mountains. It 

 is also common throughout the country in 

 wet meadows, stubble fields and old pastures 

 where it is a conspicuous figure as it probes 

 for food in the soft ground, and even chases 

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