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NATURE STUDY REVIEW [8 :4— April, 1912 



Figure 2 shows a Killdeer standing over her nest and four 

 eggs. The eggs of the Killdeer are very difficult to find because 

 they resemble very closely their surroundings. The nest is 

 merely a slight hollow in the ground, usually near a stream, and 

 often in a corn-field. An intruder is noticed from afar, and the 

 sitting bird silently slips off the nest and sneaks away to a safe 

 distance. Then she begins her piercing, pathetic cries in order to 

 attract attention away from her nest. If one seeks a hiding 

 place near by and patiently watches her, he will see her slowly 

 circle about, getting closer and closer to the nest until she reaches 

 it ; then she sits down upon it after a last look around to see that 

 the coast is clear. The bird shown in Figure 2 was not very 

 much afraid of the camera so near her nest, but returned about 



an hour and a half after everything was arranged for taking 

 the snapshot. 



Young Killdeers are able to run about soon after hatching 

 so when the time approached for the eggs to hatch a low wall 

 of flat stones was built around this nest so that the }Oung could 

 not get away after they emerged from the ^gg shells. The day 

 after they hatched they were found hiding in the crevices be- 

 tween the stones. As is the case with the eggs, the young are 

 so nearly like their surroundings in color that they can easily be 

 overlooked and thus nuist frequently escape the eyes of their 

 natural enemies. 



The Bluebird whose ])icture is shown in I'i</itre 5 was a very 



