Birds of Oregon and Washington 201 



PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION. As in general descrip- 

 tion, also " top of head dotted with whitish ; sides of 

 breast, brownish, more or less distinctly spotted with 

 paler; tail-bands, always white." Ridgway. 



Permanent resident 



THE KILLDEER. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION : 



Upper parts : brownish-gray. 



Under parts : white, two bands on breast. 



Length, 10.5 inches. 



The Killdeer is widely, though irregularly, 

 distributed. A man who has been reared in 

 Maine or in Missouri, may hear this spirit of the 

 sea-shore or of the marshes of his boyhood days, 

 cry, "Killdee, Killdee," in Oregon or Washing- 

 ton. I have heard on the shores of New York 

 sea-islands upon moonlight nights, this weird, 

 though fascinating, sound, associated in my mind 

 with Indian or folk-lore spirit-stories. The bird 

 belongs to the Plover family, and, though prefer- 

 ring the vicinity of water, is not infrequently 

 found upon uplands, lowlands and fields. It 

 nests upon the ground in various parts of this 

 section of the United States. 



