KILLDEER 203 



Other evidence of a similar nature is that of W. J. Brown (1916), 

 who says : " Ten years ago the killdeer was a rare summer resident 

 in the Province of Quebec. During the past five seasons the bird has 

 become very numerous and is now a common breeder." 



The killdeer is one of the most beneficial of birds; it is a delight 

 to the eye as it runs along the field or swiftly flies and skims the 

 ground, and its familiar calls are pleasing. Long may it flourish 

 unharmed by man ! 



Spring. — The migration of the killdeer is not as marked as is that 

 of other shore birds whose winter station is far removed from the 

 summer breeding grounds, for it breeds in many places where it 

 winters. As a spring migrant it is one of the earliest of shore birds ; 

 indeed, there are few land birds that precede it, coming generally in 

 small scattered flocks, which are augmented if the birds loiter on the 

 way. Prof, William Rowan writes of its migration at Edmonton, 

 Alberta : 



It is the first wacler to come North in the spring and the last to go South 

 in the fall. It may arrive as early as the middle of March and stay till the 

 middle of November. These are remarkable dates for a shore bird in this coun- 

 try, since the lakes remain frozen as a rule till the end of April and excep- 

 tionally right into May. Even the rivers may remain solid till the middle 

 yf April. 



Lynds Jones says that the killdeer, robin, and bluebird arrive 

 about the same time in Ohio. M. P. Skinner writes of the killdeer 

 in the Yellowstone Park that — 



Usually this bird arrives on warm mornings, hut on one occasion they came 

 on a morning when the thermometer registered below zero, but a few hours 

 later at 10 o'ehx-k there was a sudden change and the temperature shot up 

 above 40° F. 



The killdeers migrate b}- day and also by night, their calls pro- 

 claiming them during the darkness. 



CourtsMj). — The most noticeable courtship performances of the 

 killdeer are those that take place in the air — the nuptial flight — but 

 those that occur on the ground, although less often seen, are also 

 spectacular. 



Of the courtship in the air Dwight Isely (1912) says that in 

 Kansas " during the first month or six weeks after their arrival kill- 

 deers seem to spend a large part of their time in courtship. The 

 male will fly back and forth over a field giving its cry sometimes for 

 over an hour without intermission." 



Arthur T. Wayne (1910) saj^s of the bird near Charleston: "Dur- 

 ing very cold weather the killdeer rises several hundred yards in the 

 air, hovering on almost motionless wings and uttering its far-reach- 

 ing notes. I have known a pair to remain in the heavens for fully 



