SPECIES 4. CHARADRIUS VOCIFERUS. 

 KILDEER PLOVER. 



[Plate LIX. Fig. 6.] 



Jlrct. ZuoL JVo. 400. CATESBY, i, 71. Le Kildir y BUFF, vm, 96. 

 PE ALE'S Museum, JV*o. 4174.* 



THIS restless and noisy bird is known to almost every inha- 

 bitant of the United States, being a common and pretty con- 

 stant resident. During the severity of winter, when snow co- 

 vers the ground, it retreats to the seashore, where it is found 

 at all seasons; but no sooner have the rivers broke up, than its 

 shrill note is again heard, either roaming about high in air, tra- 

 cing the shore of the river, or running amidst the watery flats 

 and meadows. As spring advances, it resorts to the newly 

 ploughed fields, or level plains bare of grass, interspersed with 

 shallow pools; or, in the vicinity of the sea, dry bare sandy 

 fields. In some such situation it generally chooses to breed, 

 about the beginning of May. The nest is usually slight, a mere 

 hollow, with such materials drawn in around it as happen to be 

 near, such as bits of sticks, straw, pebbles, or earth. In one in- 

 stance, I found the nest of this bird paved with fragments of 

 clam and oyster shells, and very neatly surrounded with a 

 mound or border of the same, placed in a very close and curi- 

 ous manner. In some cases there is no vestige whatever of a 

 nest. The eggs are usually four, of a bright rich cream, or yel- 

 lowish clay colour, thickly marked with blotches of black. 

 They are large for the size of the bird, measuring more than 

 an inch and a half in length, and a full inch in width, tapering 

 to a narrow point at the great end. 



* Charadrius vodftreus, GMEL. Sysl, i,p. 685, JVb. 3. Pluvier a collier de Vir- 

 ginie, BRISS. v,p. 68.LATH, Ind. Orn. p. 712, JVb. 6. PI. Enl. 286, 



