354 THE PLOVER. 



or run along 1 the ground, counterfeiting lameness, are shrill 

 and incessant. The moment they see a person approach, 

 they fly or run to attack him with their harassing clamor, 

 continuing it over so wide an extent of ground, that they 

 puzzle the pursuer as to the particular spot where the nest 

 or young are concealed ; very much resembling, in this re- 

 spect, the Lapwing of Europe. During the evening, and long 

 after dusk, particularly in moonlight, their cries are frequently 

 heard with equal violence, both in the spring and fall. From 

 this circumstance, and their flying about both after dusk and 

 before dawn, it appears probable that they see better at such 

 times than most of their tribe. They are known to feed 

 much on worms, and many of these rise to the surface during 

 the night. The prowling of owls, may also alarm their fears 

 for their young at those hours ; but whatever may be the 

 cause, the facts are so. 



The Kildeer (see No. 2, Plate 44) is ten inches long, and 

 twenty inches in extent ; the bill is black ; frontlet, chin, and 

 ring round the neck, white ; fore part of the crown, and auri- 

 culars from the bill backwards, blackish olive ; eyelids bright 

 scarlet ; eye very large, and of a full black ; from the centre 

 of the eye backwards a stripe of white ; round the lower part 

 of the neck is a broad band of black ; below that a band of 

 white, succeeded by another rounding band or crescent of 

 black ; rest of the lower parts pure white ; crown and hind- 

 head light olive brown ; back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, 

 olive brown, skirted with brownish yellow ; primary quills 

 black ; streaked across the middle with white ; bastard wing 

 tipt with white ; greater coverts broadly tipt with white ; 

 rump and tail-coverts orange ; tail tapering, dull orange, 

 crossed near the end with a broad bar of black, and tipt with 

 orange, the two middle feathers near an inch longer than the 

 adjoining ones ; legs and feet a pale light clay color. The 

 tertials, as usual in this tribe, are very long, reaching nearly 

 to the tips of the primaries ; exterior toe joined by a mem- 

 brane to the middle one, as far as the first joint. 



