258 



THE OOLOGIST. 



all time, and are therefore solid with 

 their partners; still there is the same 

 amount of courting each season, even 

 among birds which have nested regu- 

 larly in the same localitj^ for j-ears. 



Perhaps as the birds have no nests to 

 build they make up in courting tlie usu- 

 al time spent by other birds in nest- 

 building. At last a slight hollow being 

 ■chosen, four eggs are laid on the bare 

 ground. Not the slightest evidence of 

 preparation is shown, although some 

 collectors claim that the hollow is scrap- 

 ed out by the birds. 



The eggs, four in number, are mark- 

 edly pyriform, and are invariably laid 

 with the four smaller ends together in 

 the center of the slight depression. 

 This arrangement of the Killdeer's 

 eggs is a custom adopted by all the rep- 

 resentatives of the Snipe and Plover 

 families so far as I know. It is for a 

 pui-pose and the position is to meet the 

 requirements of the incubating bird. 

 The eggs of all these birds are propor- 

 tionately exceedingly large for the size 

 of the bird, and the arrangement un- 

 doubedly serves a purpose. It is hard- 

 ly fair to say that instinct assists the 

 bird in the arrangement of its eggs, 

 and I prefer to admit that the bird 

 reasons. At least I am satisfied that 

 this is the case. For if the eggs are 

 displaced in the depression it will be 

 found that they have been rearranged 

 in some instances by the bird within a 

 few hours. 



It is impossible to offer a solution to 

 this problem, if we may call it so, un- 

 less, suggested that it is a wise provis- 

 ion, governed by Avise ruling power, 

 which so ordains the arrangement 

 which best admits of the bird's cover- 

 ing them thorou'rhly. 



It is fair to doubt if the Killdeer or 

 :any other of this order of birds could 

 properly cover the four eggs if they 

 were ai-ranged in any other position 

 than that in which they are found, 

 with the four smaller ends in the cen- 



ter. These birds have proportionately 

 small bodies and are not provided with 

 loose, fluffy feathers, so well supplied 

 to the grouse and other birds which lay 

 many eggs. With the Killdeer the 

 bared abdomen fits down into the group 

 of four eggs, and the heat, so essential, 

 is equally distributed. It is safe to say 

 that by no possible means in the power 

 of the bird could the tifth egg be hatch- 

 ed. 



It is a very easy matter to find the 

 neighborhood of a nest, for a pair of 

 birds will attempt io draw off a col- 

 lector before he is within forty rods of 

 the exact spot. In fact I have some- 

 times found it difficult to locate the 

 field in which the nest was situated. 

 Often in neighborhoods where strollers 

 are common, and the dangers of annoy- 

 ance greater, a pair of nesting birds 

 will attempt to decoj' a collector long 

 before he reaches the ffeld. I have 

 often had a bird or a pair use their 

 powei's of allurement on me when I 

 was still quite one hundred rods from 

 the nest. 



These efforts not rarely succeed even 

 with advanced collectors, for the col- 

 lector thinks that he knows where to 

 look. But he don't and will eventually 

 find that the best means of discovering 

 the nest is by carefully' watching the 

 birds after they have given over their 

 deceiving movements. 



A favorite location for the eggs is on 

 a gravelly ridge in an open field. Or 

 again in a cultivated, often a corn field. 

 The eggs are very difficult to find as 

 their spotted appearance lends an ad- 

 ditional means of concealment, and it 

 is to be doubted if a nest would be 

 found if the birds did not assist. But the 

 Aociferations of a pair are so marked 

 when a nest is approached closely that 

 the scent is rai'ely mistaken. 



Though gregarious in spring and aut- 

 umn, the Killdeer rarely, if ever, 

 breeds in colonies. I have never seen 

 an instance of the kind and have only 

 once recorded two nests in a field. 



