KILLDEEE 207 



Eggs. — [Author's note: The number of eggs in a set is almost 

 alwa3^s four, but five and three have been found. Mr. Pickwell 

 (1925) says the roof -nesting killdeer "laid at least three clutches of 

 eggs during the season extending from early April to the last of June, 

 and she may have raised two broods." The eggs are ovate pyriform 

 in shape, usuall}^ quite pointed, and they have no gloss. The ground 

 colors vary from " light buff " or " cream color " to " cartridge buff " 

 or " ivory yellow." They are irregularly spotted, blotched, or 

 scrawled, often quite boldly, with blackish brown or black ; some eggs 

 have " sepia " blotches and some a few underlying spots of " pale 

 drab gray." The measurements of 92 eggs average 36.3 by 26.6 milli- 

 meters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 41.5 by 27, 39.5 

 by 28 and 33 by 25 millimeters.] 



Young. — The incubation period according to the observations of 

 J. A. Spurrell (1917) is from 24 to 25 days; according to Ira N. 

 Gabrielson (1922) it is 25 days. J. M. Bates (1916) found it to be 

 26 days and Althea E. Sherman (1916) found that 28 days elapsed 

 between the lajdng of the last egg and hatching. 



Both sexes incubate (F. L, Burns, 1915), and both take care of the 

 young. Robert B. Eockwell (1912) relates the following: 



"Mr. [L. J.] Hersey was fortunate enough to see one set of eggs 

 hatch. He says the parent birds carried every bit of shell away from 

 the nest within two hours after the hatching." As soon as the mois- 

 ture has dried from the down, the young are on their feet and leave 

 the nest and the parents often lead them to the nearest water. They 

 bob and call at an early age. Althea R. Sherman (1916) had 

 watched a nest very closely from the beginning, but she says of the 

 young : " So protective was their coloration, so adroit was parental 

 management that they were not seen after leaving the nest until 

 they had attained the size of adult house sparrows." The young 

 often escape notice by lying motionless on the ground. At such 

 times they may sometimes be picked up without showing signs of 

 life. 



Both parents play the usual wounded-bird act to beguile the 

 intruder from the eggs or young. The following detailed account 

 by Ira N. Gabrielson (1922) is worth giving here: 



It is impossible to approach the nest on foot without alarming one or other 

 of the birds, as one was always on guard some distance away. At the appear- 

 ance of a person walking, the one on guard would fly in a circle about the 

 nest, giving the alarm, at the first note of which the one on the nest ran rapidly 

 until some distance away and then took wing to join its mate in circling about 

 the intruder. A man ploughing corn was viewed with absolute indilference by 

 both birds, the team often passing down the row next to the nest without 

 disturbing the sitting bird. At an alarm, however, both birds flew about the 

 field unless the intruder persisted in approaching the nest. In such a case 



