2 CHAEADEllD^. 



nest of this bird paved with fragments of clam and oyster-shells, and very neatly 

 surrounded with a mound or border of the same, placed in a very close and curious 

 manner. In some cases there is no vestige whatever of a nest. The eggs are 

 usually foui-, of a bright rich cream or yellowish clay-color, thickly marked with 

 blotches of black. They are large for the size of the bird, measuring more than 

 an inch and a half in length, and a full inch in width, tapering to a narrow point 

 at the great end. Nothing can exceed the alarm and anxiety of these birds during 

 the breeding season. Their cries of Kildeer, kildeer, as they winnow the air over- 

 head, dive and course around you, or run along the ground counterfeiting lameness, 

 are shrill and incessant. The moment they see a person approach, they fly or run 

 to attack him with their harassing clamour, 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 respect the Lapwing of 

 Europe." 



The late Dr. Brewer gives the following account of the breeding habits of 

 this species * : — " It is said to breed in Louisiana in the beginning of April, in 

 the Middle States in May, and on the Saskatchewan in June. Its nest is of very 

 simple construction, and is usually a mere hollow in the ground, without any 

 lining, or with merely a few bits of dry grasses. Occasionally it is said to 



construct a nest of grass in a bunch of plants, but this is very rarely done 



During incubation the parents alternate in sitting upon their eggs, and do not 

 leave them day or night, differing in a marked manner, in this respect, from the 

 melodus and the wilsoni. The young run about the instant they leave the shell. 

 If the nest is approached during incubation, or when the young are in danger, 

 both parents resort to various manoeuvres to entice away the intruder : the female 

 droops her wings, utters plaintive notes, and simulates lameness ; the male is 

 more demonstrative, and dashes about his head mth angry vociferations. 



" The eggs are usually four in number, never more — so far as known to us — 

 and very rarely less. They are pyriform in shape, being much rounded at one 

 end and pointed at the other. Their ground, when the egg is fresh, is a rich 

 cream-color, fading into a dull white, over which are profusely spread blotches 

 of varying shape and size, of dark purplish brown, approaching black. These 

 increase in size towards the larger end, and cover a greater proportion of it, but 

 are finer and more scattered elsewhere. They measure 1"65 inches in length by 

 1-13 inches in their greater breadth." 



* ' Water Birds of North America,' vol. i. p. 151. 



