A Pair of Killdeer 



149- 



When I returned to look for the young bird it had vanished. The 

 coachman had had his eye on him only a moment before, and "he had 

 just sunk into the ground, ma'am ! " It required the sharp eye of 

 the gardener, who came up at the moment, to detect the little thing. 

 "There he is," he said, pointing downward; and at my feet, just 

 where I should have trodden had I taken the next step, lay the bird, 

 pressed quite flat into a hollow of the gravel. He had learned his 

 mother's tricks and was pla3'ing dead ! He allowed us to pick him 

 up and examine him carefully, without a sign of life. 



I could not go again to the park until July 3 when, to my delight, 

 the gardener told me the birds were sitting on a second batch of 

 eggs. I should never have found the "nest" if the man had not 





P^^ 





KILLDEER 

 Photographed from nature 



marked the spot with a wisp of straw on the turf near by. There 

 were three eggs, laid on the bare gravel, matching it in their dark 

 and light mottlings so as to be almost indistinguishable. The birds 

 were now much bolder than in June, quite determined that I should 

 not come near the eggs if they could frighten me off, and it occurred 

 to me that they certainly came close enough to be photographed. So 

 at 7 o'clock the next morning I was on the spot, accompanied by a 

 friend with her camera — a 4x5 "Hawkeye. " There was no adjacent 

 tree or screen of any kind, but we easily coaxed one of the birds into 

 coming within 'snapping' range. As we gradually approached, both 

 birds grew quite frantic in their efforts to lure us away, drawing nearer 

 and nearer. When we persistently stayed close, one drew off, but 

 the other evidently made up its mind that no matter what the danger 

 was, those eggs must not be allowed to grow cold. I felt very sorry^ 



