VO 'i^07 IV ] Cameron, Birds of Custer & Davenport Counties, Mont. 255 



runs along the ground with humped back and slightly elevated wings 

 she has eggs close by; if, on the other hand, she flies towards and around 

 the intruder screaming vociferously, the young are hatched out and con- 

 cealed in the vicinity. On their first arrival and during the nesting season, 

 when they are usually met with in pairs, curlews are exceedingly fearless 

 but as soon as the young can fly (at the end of July), they collect into 

 large flocks, prior to migrating, which may contain a hundred birds in 

 each. They are then shy and difficult of approach but as far as I am aware 

 nobody ever tries to shoot them here. (Plate VIII, Fig. 2.) 



Curlews feed chiefly on grasshoppers, but there is an abundance of 

 beetles and grubs for them before the first named mature, about the middle 

 of June. I have seen the nesting curlews make flying attacks at Swain- 

 son's Hawk and the Marsh Hawk with their long bills, just as they drive 

 away Richardson's Skua in the Orkney Islands. 1 



54. Charadrius dominicus. American Golden Plover. — Occasional 

 fall migrant. On September 9, 1896, I saw a flock of thirty or more 

 Golden Plover on a bare flat near my ranch in Custer County. I remained 

 motionless and they wheeled around my horse within easy shot. On the 

 16th of the same month, at the same place, I observed a small flock of 

 fifteen birds which crouched to the ground as I rode up to them. They 

 seemed very tame and only flew a few yards. On September 23, I again 

 saw eight birds in the same locality. Their call is similar to that of the 

 European form. 



55. Oxyechus vociferus. Killdeer. — Abundant. One of the earliest 

 summer visitors, arriving at the end of March. Killdeer are very tame 

 and confiding and will rear young close to ranch buildings, although a 

 stony slope near water is a favorite nesting site. 



56. Podasocys montana. Mountain Plover. — A regular summer 

 visitor, but scarce. Two or three pairs breed annually on the prairie 

 dog towns in the vicinity of Terry. Their eggs are very hard to find, but 

 I have seen an egg as early as May 23. The birds spend most of their 

 time on the ground, where they run with incredible swiftness, fully twice 

 as fast as a Killdeer, which alone would always attract attention to them. 

 If forced to rise these plover fly very low, and run for some distance upon 

 alighting, when they will allow themselves to be pressed closely before 

 taking wing again. When disturbed they have a curious habit of collaps- 

 ing, or shrinking into themselves, and stretching their bodies to the full 

 height alternately. On June 15, 1898, I was out with three grayhounds 

 looking for a coyote when I saw a pair of these plovers in the center of a 

 prairie dog town. I at once began to look systematically for a nest, 

 walking in circles, starting from my horse, which stood wherever he was 

 left, the three dogs lying beside him. Having searched in this manner 

 for nearly three hours without result, or even seeing either plover again, 

 I was beginning to lose heart when a single plover again appeared showing 



1 See Harvie-Brown and Buckley, A Fauna of the Orkney Islands, p. 225. 



