CHA RA DlillD.E — CHA RA DRIIN.E : PLO\ ER . 



775 



duller aud more grayish ; and when quite young the feathers of upper parts margined with 



rusty brown, giving a spotty appearance j rump pale; markings of tail incomplete; but the 



birds speedily acquire a plumage like that of adults. Downy young: Above, gray with a, 



ruddy tinge ; ring round top 



of head, ring round neck, a 



loral stripe, stripe down 



back, and another on each 



side of the colored area, 



black; collar ronud back dt 



neck, forehead, and end? ot 



wing-tufts, white; tail-tiitt 



and bill black — queer litlh 



creatures, readily recognized 



Temperate North America at 



large, very abundant, bned- 



ing anywhere ; not gregarious 



nor maritime ; extensively but 



somewhat irregularly niigi.i- 



tory, reaching the West Indies 



and South America in winter. 



Avery noisy bird — the cuii- 



ous name is derived from its 



shrill two-syllabled whistle, 



like kil-deer ! kil-deer .' and 



may be spelled in four ways »'''^«'" ^y ^- ^- ^"'"^''^ 



on good authority — killdeer, kildeer, kildur, kildee. Nest anywhere in grass or shingle 



usually near water. Eggs 4, about 1.50 X 1.10, of the pyriform shape usual among 



limicoline birds ; ground varying from drab through clay-color to creamy, marked in endless 



variation with blackish-brown. Kildeers' eggs and those of the Spotted Sandpiper do 



excellent duty in boys' and amateurs' cabinets for those of most small vvaders. 



Fig. 524. — Tail of tlie Killdeer Plover. (From •• North American Shore 



{Subgenus /Egialeus.) 



JE. semipalma'ta. (Lat. semi, half; pcdmata, palmated : the species is remnrkably distin- 

 guished by the extent of the half-webbing between the toes. This is the diaraeter of the 

 subgenus, given full generic rank by Dr. Sharpe, but ignored by the A. 0. U. Figs. 527, 528.) 

 Semipal.matkd Plover. King I'lover. RixCi-neck. Adult ^ '^ , m summer: Upper 

 parts uniform dark asliy-gray or light hair-brown (wet-.'^and c<dor) ; under parts pure white. 

 A broad black ring encircling fore-neck. In advance of this a white iialf-collar around back 

 of neck, spreading into white of tliroat. A white frontal bar, entirely surrounded by black: 

 i. e. a black coronal bar and black stripe along lore and side of Iioad, meeting its fellow over 

 base of upper mandible. Primaries blackish, with narrow white spaces reduced to a pi'rtiou 

 of the shaft alone on outer primary ; secondaries largely white ; greater coverts white-tipped; 

 Iniii,' inni r secondaries like the back. Tail like back, the feathers insensibly blackening 

 toward their ends, most of them white-tipped, outermost nearly all white. An orange ring 

 niuud eye, very liriyht ; iris haz(d brnwn. Hill black, with oranize basal half; feet pale 

 llesh-color, drying tlingy yellowisii ; daws black. Web between outer aud middle toe reach- 

 ing to end of second joint of the latter. Length aliout 7.00 ; extent 15.00-15.50; wing 4.75- 

 5.00; tail 2.25, rounded; iiill 0.50; tarsus 0.00; miildle toe and claw the same. Adults in 

 winter: The black on head and fore-neck replaced Iiy a color likr that of the back. The 



