64 BIRDS OF SOUTH DAKOTA 
SHORE BIRDS 
This order embraces several families usually called Snipes 
or Waders. Most of them have long legs and bills, which en- 
able them to procure their food along muddy shores or in shal- 
low water. The Killdeer and the Upland Plover are more terres- 
trial than the others and frequent our prairies, especially during 
the nesting season. On the other hand the Phalaropes and 
Avocets have lobed or partly webbed feet and are fairly good 
swimmers. »Two species of the Phalaropes, when not nesting, 
spend much of their time at sea several miles from the coast, 
feeding on small marine forms. Other interesting characteristics 
of the Phalaropes are that the females are larger and more bright- 
ly colored than the males, and that after the eggs are laid the 
males do the incubating. It is believed by some authorities that 
he alone feeds and cares for the young. 
In earlier years many of the Shore Birds nested in abun- 
dance in our State, but today their former nesting grounds are 
either under cultivation or in pasture. With no grassy environ- 
ment and the continual tramping of stock, no safe place is left in 
South Dakota for the Snipes to nest and rear their young. Their 
food consists chiefly of insects and insect larvae, consequently 
the economic value of Shore Birds is very great. Not only do 
they destroy great numbers of insects which are destructive to 
crops, but eight species recorded as summer residents of South 
Dakota devour immense quantities of mosquito larvae. (United 
States Biological Survey Circular No. 79.) The Killdeer and 
the Upland Plover eat the larvae of the horsefly. Eight species 
are known to eat the larve of the crane-fly, a pest of the grass 
fields. Later in summer a large portion of the food of many of 
our Snipes consists of young Rocky Mountain locusts and grass- 
hoppers. Although their flesh is considered a great delicacy, 
yet on account of their small size and the fact that they feed 
upon many of the worst enemies of agriculture, their protection 
deserves the encouragement of every one. 
FAMILY PHALAROPODIDA, PHALAROPES 
223. NorRTHERN PHALAROPE (Lobipes lobatus.) 
This is one of the “Swimming Snipes” that lives much of 
