KILLDEER 205 



appeared perfectly indifferent. This was repeated several times until the 

 female suddenly flew away. 



This behavior of the female is very characteristic and common in 

 avian, as well as in other courtship. In whirling about, the brown 

 tail coverts must show prominently and the "stuttering note" may 

 be another term for the " trilling note " used by other writers. 



Nesting. — The killdeer nests in the open, generally in a situation 

 that gives the bird on the nest an extended view. The nest may be 

 close to water — river, lake, or pond more often than the sea — but 

 it is generally in fields a fev/ feet to several hundred yards or even 

 a mile or two from water. Pastures, meadows, cultivated fields, and 

 bare gravelly ground are favorite nesting places for this bird. 

 Gravel roads and the spaces between the ties of a railroad and even 

 a graveled roof have ail been chosen by this bird for laying its eggs. 



As a rule, the ground is slightly hollowed out for the eggs and a 

 few chips of stone, wood, or weed stalks are placed in and about the 

 hollow. Within narrow bounds there is considerable variation, and 

 I have here set down some of the numerous nests described. Ira N. 

 Gabrielson (1922) says: 



In this region [Oregon] the favorite nesting place was at the base of a hill of 

 com. As usual, little or no attempt was made to build a nest — a few pebbles 

 and bits of corn husks being the usual type. This material is seldom concen- 

 trated into a nest but is scattered over an area of 1 or more square feet, the 

 eggs being deposited on the ground at some point within this area. * * * 

 A rather unusual nest was found. It was placed in a small depression and 

 carefully lined with shredded corn husks. 



Harold C. Bryant (1914) reports in Merced County, Calif. — 



Another nest found May 15 was unique in the fact that it was placed in a 

 small grassy knoll surrounded by water, and that the cavity v/as well lined 

 with short stems of devil grass. 



J. M. Bates (1916) saj^s of nests found in Nebraska: 



The dirt is scooped out the size of my hand and is laid with thin, flat scraps 

 of magnesian sand shale averaging an inch long. While a few dead stems lie 

 with the stones, there is no appearance of design in their presence. 



Charles R. Stockard (1905) says of the killdeer in Mississippi: 



The eggs are never hidden in the grass or weeds but are placed in slight 

 depressions on the bare ground or on short grass turf. The saucerlike depres- 

 sion of a nest has scattered in it bits of shells, small pebbles, short pieces of 

 weeds or sticks, and often small bits of crayfish armor. This rubbish is never 

 arranged so as to form a real nest, since only a few bits of it are scattered in 

 the depression. 



]\I. P. Skinner writes as follows of this bird nesting in the Yellow- 

 stone National Park : 



AH the nests I have found were on high, dry land, although never more than 

 two or three hundred yards from water, while some were within 20 feet of it. 



