J^ebraslca Ornitholoiists' Union 69 



32. Osycchii.-; rocifcrus (Linnaeus — Killdeer. 



The Killdeer was undoubtedly the commonest of the 

 shore birds present at Ilalsey and was found until the 

 3rd of September in 1911, and until the 5th of that month 

 in 1912. It may have been present in 1911 later than the 

 3rd, which was the last date of my observation until the 

 20th, but it Avas absent in the latter part of the month 

 when I returned to Ilalsey. Two nests of four eggs each 

 were found on the same island as the nest of the Spotted 

 Sandpiper and in a very similar situation, although in 

 a different clump of willows. The parent Killdeers were 

 never seen on the nests and never tried to lead me away 

 from their vicinity by the methods which some birds 

 employ of feigning a broken wing, but when I was near 

 the group of willows the birds would squat down in a 

 depression of the sand nearby and remain perfectly quiet, 

 only now and then raising their heads to see if I had 

 gone. So long as I remained motionless, so did they, 

 and by no means coidd I make them acknowledge owner- 

 ship of the nests or eggs except by their nervous attitude 

 and the fact that they were more quiet than usual. The 

 ordjjiary notes of the Killdeer are the well known, "kill- 

 dee kill-dee kill-dee- — , " and the " cry-baby-baby-baby- 

 baby-cry-baby-ba))y. " One bird, Avhich I heard a number of 

 times several miles up the river from the station, possessed 

 some peculiarity in its voice so that the "baby" part of 

 the latter call was given in a falsetto key. The result 

 was ludicrous, as can be imagined. 



33. Colinus viri^inianus (Linnaeus) — Bob-white. 



In 1911 about a dozen of these birds were present on 

 the Reserve near the station where I f^aw them nearly 

 every day, but during 1912 I found them only at inter- 

 vals and then so few, only one or two at a time, that I 

 suspected that the numbers had decreased materially. 

 The explanation was found wdien I was told that Bob- 

 whites had been found frozen several times during the 

 winter of 1911-1912. Most of the birds were in the brush 

 along the river, but often I found them in the open val- 

 ley and in the undergrowth at the base of the hills. On 

 August 28, 1911, a single Bob-white was seen about a 

 half-mile back in the hills, and on June 7, 1912, one was 

 heard but not seen in almost the same situation. 



