464 GAME BIEDS OF CALIFOSNIA 



brown; feet and legs dull greenish yellow, dusky at joints. Males: Total length 

 9.50-10.50 inches (241-267 mm.) (eight specimens); folded wing 6.00-6.50 (152- 

 165); bill along culmen 0.68-0.84 (17.3-21.3); tarsus 1.32-1.43 (33.5-36.3) (ten 

 specimens); weight 3 oz. (85. S gm.) (one specimen). Females: Total length 

 10.25-10.50 (260-267) (five specimens); folded wing 5.97-6.40 (151-162); bill 

 along culmen 0.75-0.83 (19.0-21.1); tarsus 1.34-1.43 (34.0-36.3) (seven speci- 

 mens); all from California. Juvenile plumage: Similar to that of adult, but 

 with black markings on head and neck duller or replaced by dark brown, and 

 feathers of upper surface more extensively tipped with light rusty brown; 

 wisps of natal down often remain adhering to tips of tail feathers. Natal 

 plumage: Lower forehead, chin and throat, and lower surface of body, white; 

 top of head and upper surface (excepting neck band) mixed light brownish and 

 blackish, sharply outlined all around by black borders; stripes before and behind 

 eye, single band across throat (complete around neck), and stripe down middle 

 of back, black; white on chin and throat continuous with white collar around 

 hind neck, the latter separating black outlines of crown and back; flanks and 

 area about vent pale rusty; bill blackish; iris brownish; feet more yellowish 

 than in adult. 



Marks for field identification — Moderate size, two black bands across 

 chest, white collar around hind neck, white bar across wing, tawny rump patch, 

 and white tipped, black banded tail. The shrill call. Mil-dee, is distinctive. 

 This is our only shore bird with two black bands across breast. 



Voice — Usually a loud, high-pitched, two-syllabled Mil-deer, or Mil-dee, 

 rapidly enunciated; occasionally, as when flushed excitedly from ground, it 

 becomes Mil-dee, dee, dee, dee-ey ; also when running along ground in advance of 

 an observer, a softer de-e-e-e-e-et is sometimes uttered. 



Nest — On ground, usually near water, in grass or on bare, sandy or pebbly 

 area; a shallow depression with or without a sparse lining of short, dry grass 

 blades, weed stalks, pebbles, or bits of hardened earth. 



Eggs — Usually 4, pear-shaped, measuring in inches, 1.46 to 1.56 by 1.02 to 

 1.10 (in millimeters, 37.0 to 39.5 by 26.0 to 28.0), and averaging 1.51 by 1.06 

 (38.2 by 26.8); ground color light clay or dull cream with bold markings of 

 dark brown, black and dull lavender (four sets, 15 eggs, from California). 



General distribution — North and South America. Breeds from central 

 British Columbia, southern Mackenzie, central Keewatin, and central Quebec, 

 south throughout the whole United States, and in Mexico to latitude of south- 

 ern Lower California. Winters from New Jersey, Indiana, Texas, Arizona and 

 central California south to Venezuela and Peru in South America (modified 

 from A. O. U. Check-list, 1910, p. 128). 



Distribution in California — Abundant sunnner visitant to suitable localities 

 throughout the state, chiefly in the lowlands, but ranging locally up high in 

 the mountains, even to 8,600 feet altitude (as on Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite 

 National Park). Winters in the valleys west of the Sierras from about the 

 latitude of San Francisco southward, and, more rarely, east of the Sierras from 

 Owens Valley southward. 



The Killdeer is one of the commonest, most widely distributed, and 

 perhaps the best known of all our shore birds. In the East it has been 

 considerably reduced in numbers, but in the West it has held its 

 place and numbers despite the encroachments of civilization. In the 

 northern half of California the species is cliicfly a summer sojourner, 



