214 THe Brrps Asout US. 
The genuine, or literally “upland,” plover is the 
familiar “ Killdeer.” It is migratory, but it makes a 
long stay with us in the Middle States. It some- 
times comes by the middle of February, and is said 
to be always fol- 
lowed by the snipe. 
Not always zmmze- 
diately followed, 
however. We first 
find the killdeer 
along the river, 
and if the ground, 
upland, is frozen, 
they will remain 
Killdeer. there;*~ but. “very: 
soon they come to 
their old haunts in the dry fields, and add a great 
deal of life to what is apt to be a rather commonplace 
locality. They find in time a safe spot, as they think, 
to lay their eggs, and then are all anxiety for fear 
some one will step on them. If you come near they 
make a great ado and imitate lameness to perfection, 
but you cannot pick them up, for all that. 
Wilson says,— 

«Nothing can exceed the alarm and anxiety of these birds during 
the breeding season. Their cries of £2d/deer, killdeer, as they winnow 
the air overhead, dive and course around you, or run along the 
ground counterfeiting lameness, are shrill and incessant. The mo- 
ment they see a person approach they fly or run to attack him with 
their harassing clamor, continuing it over so wide an extent of 
ground that they puzzle the pursuer as to the particular spot where 
the nest or young are concealed, very much resembling in this re- 
spect the Lapwing of Europe. During the evening and long after 
