228 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



white. They may readily be kept in confinement and are 

 therefore well adapted for stocking preserves wherever the 

 environment is suitable. 



THE PLOVERS. 



The plovers are generally distinguished by their bills, which 

 are of oniy medium length and are constricted between the 

 base and tip ; most of the birds lack a hind toe. Economi- 

 cally they stand with the rest of the shore-birds. Of the 

 half-dozen species found in our territory, we will consider the 

 three most important, — namely, the ring-neck plover, the 

 killdeer, and the golden plover. 



The Ring-neck Plover is a diffused species, abundant during 

 the seasons of migration, especially along the beaches. Though 

 numbers of them are shot, the bit they furnish seems hardly 

 worth the ammunition. They are of more value living, as 

 eleven stomachs examined by Professor Aughey testify : in 

 each were from fifty-three to sixty insects, more than half 

 being locusts. 



In many parts of the United States the Killdeer, or the 

 Killdeer Plover, is one of the most familiar country birds. 

 It is a summer resident in most of the Northern States. It 

 commonly occurs in upland pastures, as well as along the 

 margins of shallow ponds or the beaches of lakes or the 

 ocean. It winters in the South : in Florida we have seen 

 these birds abundant during January, in small flocks spending 

 most of their time along the shores of the numerous ponds 

 and lakes of that State. The major portion of the food con- 

 sists of insects ; angle-worms, crayfish, and similar creatures 

 making up the remainder. In the stomachs of thirteen speci- 

 mens examined by King there were found ants, grasshop- 

 pers and crickets and their eggs, caterpillars, moths, wire- 

 worms, curculios, plant-beetles, a crane-fly, and angle- worms. 

 "The food-habits and haunts of the killdeer are such as to 

 bind it closely in economic relation with that all too small 



