524 THE KILLDEER PLOVER. 



one season, laying four large eggs, of a light olive, dashed with black. It is extremely shy 

 and watchful, though noisy enough during the season of breeding. 



According to Wilson, this bird is known in some parts of the country by the name of the 

 large Whistling Field Plover, and the Bostonian naturalist, Charles B. Cory, places it among 

 the "birds of the Bahama Islands." He writes: 



" The Black-bellied Plover is a regular winter visitant to the Bahama Islands, although it 

 cannot be considered as common. A single specimen was taken on Andros Island in January, 

 and I observed several small flocks during the latter part of the month. They frequent the 

 salt marshes and beaches." 



Full information of this bird is given in Audubon's admirable work on the "Birds of 

 America." 



" This beautiful bird makes its appearance on our Southern coasts in the beginning of 

 April, as I had many opportunities of observing in the course of my journey along the shores 

 of the Gulf of Mexico. Instead of being congregated in large flocks, as is the case during 

 their southward migration in autumn, they are seen coming in small numbers, but at short 

 intervals, so as almost to form a continuous line. They travel chiefly by night, and rest for a 

 great part of the day along the margins of the sea, either reposing on the sands in the sun- 

 shine, or searching the beaches for food. After dusk, their well-known cries give note of their 

 passage, but by day they remain silent, even when forced to betake themselves to flight. On 

 such occasions, they generally wheel over the waters, and not unfrequently return to the spot 

 which they had at first selected. I have traced this species along the whole of our eastern 

 coast, and beyond it to the rugged shores of Labrador, where my party procured a few on the 

 moss-covered rocks, although we did not then find any nests, and where some young birds 

 were obtained in the beginning of August. 



"Individuals of this species spend the summer months in the mountainous parts of Mary- 

 land, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, where they breed. I found their nests near the waters 

 of the Delaware and the Perkioming creek, when I resided in the first of these States. 



" Unless during the breeding seasons, they are exceedingly shy ; but their anxiety for 

 their young renders them forgetful of the danger which they incur in approaching man. The 

 young, when two or three weeks old, run with great celerity, and squat in perfect silence when 

 apprehensive of danger. When they are able to fly, several families unite and betake them- 

 selves to the sea-shore, where other flocks gradually arrive, until at length, on the approach 

 of cold weather, almost all of them begin to move southward. Although the great body of 

 these Plovers pass beyond the limits of the United States, some remain on the shores of the 

 Floridas during winter. In their habits they are more maritime than the Golden Plovers, 

 which, when migrating, generally advance over the land. 



" The flight of this bird is swift, strong, and well sustained. When roaming over large 

 sand-bars, they move in compact bodies, whirling round, and suddenly veering, so as alternately 

 to exhibit their upper and lower parts. At this time old and young are intermixed, and many 

 of the former have lost the black, so conspicuous on the neck and breast in summer. During 

 winter, or as long as they frequent the sea-shore, they feed on marine insects, worms, and 

 small shell-fish ; and when they are in the interior, on grasshoppers and other insects, as well 

 as berries of various kinds, on which they fatten so as to become tolerably good eating. 



" As its habits agree with those of the Plovers generally, and as its form is similar to that 

 of the Golden Plover and other species, the only difference being the presence of a rudimentary 

 hind-toe, it was scarcely necessary to distinguish it generically from Charadrius, as many 

 recent authors have done." 



This bird resembles the Golden Plover, though it is considerably larger. The presence of 

 the small hind-toe readily distinguishes it no other Plover has it. 



THE KILLDEER PLOVER (Oxyechus vociferus). This is one of the most familiar of the 

 wading birds, known to gunners and visitors of the lowlands as a noisy, but exceptionally 

 handsome bird. Its peculiar note, killdeer, killdeer, is uttered as it swiftly courses overhead. 

 Its cries are heard after dark, and on moonlight nights. It is one of the few birds of this 



