PHASES OF BIRD LIFE. 183 
keenly as he moved away. JI hurriedly climbed 
down, lest he should topple to the ground and dash 
himself to death ; and thus, while I was on the brink 
of causing a tragedy, yet, as a sort of emollient to 
my conscience, I consoled myself with the thought 
that I had really prevented one. 
Another interesting discovery of the same spring 
was a killdeer plover’s nest, which my farmer friend 
across-lots found in a clover-field. There had been 
a heavy rainfall, making the ploughed ground as soft 
as mush; but my tall rubber boots were mud-proof, 
and so I went to pay the plovers my respects. ‘This 
was after six o’clock in the evening. I found one 
little bird in the shallow, pebble-lined nest, and 
three eggs, one of them slightly broken at the larger 
end. The plover nestling was an odd baby, with 
its large head, fluffy, square-shouldered body, and 
slender beak sticking straight out. A small piece of 
the egg-shell still clung to its back. On taking the 
tiny thing into my hand, what was this I saw? It 
had only three toes on each foot, instead of four, as 
most birds have ; and those three were all fore toes, 
while the bird had no hind toe at all. Why the 
plover should have no hind toe is an enigma; but 
then, the ostrich has none, either, and only two in 
front, — ‘every species after its kind.” 
Early the next morning two more youngsters had 
broken shell, and come forth to keep their more 
precocious brother company. The eldest was marked 
quite distinctly about the head and neck like its 
parents, having the characteristic white and black 
