PL( )VERS 



?59 



l)ass the West Indies, cross the (iulf of Mexico 

 and appear on the coast of Brazil. Beinj^ able to 

 alight on the water and feed among- masses of 

 drift-weed makes such a long journey possible. 

 Reaching land, they keep on down to the pampas 

 of Argentina. Returning north to breed, they 

 pass, in April and May, up through the interior 

 United States, especially the Mississippi valley, 

 neglecting the Atlantic coast, and thus again 

 reach the breeding grounds. 



The autumnal flight on the New England coast 

 used to be a great event, watched for with eager- 

 ness by the local gunners. If a tropical hurricane 

 came up the coast between about August 20 and 

 the middle of September, with its violent on- 

 shore gales from the northeast, there would be a 

 wonderful influx of Golden Plovers, driven otif 

 their course, accompanied by equally great flocks 

 of the Eskimo Curlew, now, alas, probably ex- 

 tinct. 



The last really great flight of both these 

 species which I witnessed was in late August, 

 1883, at Chatham, Mass., at the southern end of 

 the projection of Cape Cod. The wind was 

 shrieking, and I hardly could stand against it 

 on the exposed headlands, where I watched great 



compact masses of these wonderful birds, high in 

 air, blowing in from the sea. They alighted, as 

 was their wont, on the upland grassy pastures as 

 well as on the marshes, where they eagerly levied 

 toll on their favorite grasshopjjcr diet, while the 

 gunners also took toll of them. Thus early in 

 the season all were in the changing adult plumage, 

 the pale-bellied voung not arriving till about mid- 

 September. 



In Nova Scotia, before they launched forth 

 on their great voyage, I have watched large flocks 

 of them perform wonderful aerial evolutions 

 over the marshes, swinging high and low many 

 times before alighting. They came quite readily 

 to tin or wooden decoys l)efore a well-placed 

 blind. During the spring flight, in May, I have 

 watched them on the North Dakota prairie, when 

 they were in their exquisite breeding plumage. 

 .\s thev faced me, their C(jal-black breasts so 

 blended with the black loam soil that it was hard 

 at first to make them out. .Apparently realizing 

 their concealing coloration, they would stand per- 

 fectly still till I came within fifteen or twenty 

 paces, whereupon they would dart off together in 

 their swift flight, piping their melodious calls. 



I-Ii:ki!ERT K. Io.".. 



KILLDEER 



Oxyechus vocife 



.\. O V. VnmlRT 273 



Other Names. — Killdeer Plover; Xoisy Plover; 

 Chattering Plover; Killdee. 



General Description. — Length. 10 inches. Color 

 above, olive-brown : below, pure white. A front view of 

 the bird shows four black bands, two on head and two 

 on breast. Wings, long and, in flight, showing a white 

 \' ; tail long and rounded; bill slender. 



Color. — Adults: Forehead, white from eye to 

 eye, prolonged below ; above this, a black band ; a 

 brownish-black patch from gape along lower side of 

 head; a white collar around neck continuous with white 

 throat; a broad diffuse stripe of the brownish-black 

 back of eye; crown, back, shoulders, wing-coverts, and 

 secondaries, plain olive-brown ; rump and upper tail- 

 cnz'crts, oraiujc-broivn deepening to chestnut behind ; 

 several inner pairs of tail-feathers, olive-brown shadin.g 

 into black, then lightening again and changing into 

 rusty tips, others with the orange-brown at rump, black 

 subterniinal bars, and pure white tips, the outer pair, 

 mostly white, with several broken lilack bars on inner 



rus ( Liiiiunis ) 



I'latv .-.9 



~fc Loll 



webs ; primaries, dusky with a white space on outer 

 webs and a longer one on inner webs ; secondaries, 

 mostly white, but with black areas increasing from 

 within outward; a black hrcasl-baiui riuircliiig neck; 

 below this a zvliile space, and beloz^' this luiain another 

 black breast-band not extending around neck; rest of 

 imder parts, pure white; bill, dusky; legs, leaden .gray; 

 iris, brown; eyelids, oran,ge or red. Yoi'Ng : Black of 

 adults replaced by gray; feathers of upper parts marked 

 with rusty-brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Eggs: Deposited on the bare 

 ground in fields, usually near water ; 4, dull bufify, 

 thickly spotted and blotched with brown and sepia. 



Distribution. — North and .South America ; breeds 

 from central British Columbia, southern Mackenzie, 

 central Keewatin, and central Quebec south to the Gulf 

 Coast and central Mexico ; winters from California, 

 .Arizona, Texas, Indiana, New Jersey, and Bermuda 

 south to \'enezuela and Peru ; casual in Newfoundland, 

 Paraguav, and Chile; accidental in Great Britain.. 



The Killdeer gets its name from its loud, 

 strident, and frequently reiterated cry, which 

 somewhat resembles the words " Kill deer " or 

 the svllables " Kill-dee." It is a true Plover, and 



a member of the important shore-bird familv 

 which are usually to be found near the water or 

 in moist places. But the Killdeer also occurs f re- 

 (juently on jierfectl}' dry land, many miles from 



