212 HISTORY OF THE 



quickly go about their nesting, after which each pair limits its 

 range to the immediate vicinity of its treasures." 



Genus ^GIALITIS Boie. 

 "Size medium or small; liead without crest, and plumage without metallic 

 gloss above. Bill variable, but usually shorter than middle toe, or, if longer, 

 very slender; tarsus less than twice as long as middle toe." 



Subgenus OXYECHUS Reichenbach. 

 Tail at least half as long as the wing, extending half its length, or more, 

 beyond tip of closed wings; graduated for more than length of inner toe with- 

 out claw; rump and upper tail coverts ochraceous; chest crossed by two black 

 bands. {Bidgway.) 



.ffigialitis vocifera (Linn.). 



KILLDEER. 

 PLATE XII. 



Summer resident; abundant. Arrive the last of February to 

 first of April; begin laying about the middle of April; remain 

 until late in the fall. 



B. 504. R. 516. C. 584. G. 237, 99. U. 273. 



Habitat. The whole of temperate North America; breeding 

 throughout its range; wintering from the Gulf coast and 

 southern California, south into northern South America. 



Sp. Char. "Adult: Pileum, and upper parts generally, grayish brown, in- 

 clining to umber; rump aud upper tail coverts ochraceous rufous, lighter on the 

 latter. Forehead and broad superciliary stripe, throat, nuchal collar and lower 

 parts white. Fore part of the crown, loral stripe continued toward the occiput, 

 collar round neck and band across breast black. Primaries dusky, the inner 

 quills marked on outer webs with white. Tail chiefly pale ochraceous rufous, 

 variegated with white, dusky and grayish chiefly toward the end. Bill black; 

 iris dark brown; eyelids (in life) orange red or scarlet; legs and feet pale pink- 

 ish grayish, or pale grayish yellow. Toung: Similar to the adult, but feathers 

 of the upper parts more or less conspicuously margined with pale rusty or ful- 

 vous. Downy young: Upper parts generally, including pileum, light grayish 

 brown, the two areas of this color bounded all round by black, a wide collar of 

 which crosses the jugulum and, extending across the nape beneath a broad, 

 white collar, completely encircles the neck; a broad bar of velvety black down 

 the middle of the humeral region, and a narrow, more interrupted stripe of the 

 same down the rump. Forehead, throat, lower parts generally, 'hand wing' 

 and posterior border of the humerus pure white; the flanks and crissum more 

 Isabella color; a narrow black line running from the rictus to the eye." 



This noisy, familiar species frequents alike the high prairies, 



