[ 2.42. ] BIRDSOFOREGON 



Like many other less common ground-nesting birds in the State, the 

 Killdeers habitually feign injury to decoy an intruder away from the 

 nest. Individuals vary greatly in their expertness at this ruse. We have 

 watched them lie flat on the ground screaming lustily and beating their 

 wings frantically, only to resume a normal posture and run a few steps 

 to start the performance again. Some act so realistically as they flop 

 along the ground barely beyond reach that the observer is certain every 

 bone in their little bodies is broken. The performance is continued until 

 the intruder is decoyed a safe distance from the nest, when the Killdeer 

 takes wing screaming triumph. Occasionally both parents take part in 

 the act, although it is usually carried out by the one that happens to be 

 on the nest at the time of the intrusion. 



American Golden Plover: 



Pluvialis dominica dominica (Midler) 



DESCRIPTION. "Hind toe wanting, bill small and slender. Adults in summer: upper 

 parts black or dusky, spotted with bright yellow and white; face, throat, and belly 

 black, bordered with a line of white; tail dusky, barred with gray or yellow. Adults 

 in winter: under parts mottled dusky gray; back less golden than in summer. Young: 

 like winter adults, but with upper parts more golden, and yellow wash over neck 

 and breast. Length: 9.50-10.80, wing 6.807.40, bill .80-1.00, tarsus 1.551.82.." 

 (Bailey) Nest: A hollow in the open tundra, lined with dead leaves. Eggs: Usually 

 4, sometimes 3 or 5, buff to cream color heavily marked with very dark browns or 

 black. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Point Barrow, Alaska, Baffin Island, and North 

 Devon Island south to Keewatin and Mackenzie. Winters far south in South 

 America. In Oregon: Rare fall migrant along coast with only three definite records, 

 all in recent years. 



THE AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER, with its handsome spring plumage, is 

 unknown as an Oregon bird up to this writing, and in the light of present 

 knowledge it can be classed only as a casual migrant. Woodcock (1902.) 

 listed it as a migrant at Yaquina Bay, but the first Oregon specimen was 

 one taken by Jewett (1914^) at Netarts on September 7, 1912.. It was not 

 again found in the State until September ix, 1916, when Jewett took two 

 near the California line in Curry County. The third record is of a single 

 bird taken by Overton Dowell, Jr., at Mercer, Lane County, in August 

 19x9, and now in his collection. 



Black-bellied Plover: 



Squatarola squat arola (Linnaeus) 



DESCRIPTION. "Hind toe minute; bill rather short. Adults in summer: face, throat, 

 and belly black, bordered with white; upper parts spotted with black and white; 

 upper tail coverts white at base; outer half of tail barred with dusky. Adults in 

 winter: under parts white, overlaid, streaked, and mottled with dusky and gray, 

 becoming creamy or white on anal region; upper parts spotted with gray and dusky. 



