Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



the male and female are alike. The color of its bill is black ; 

 eyelids, red ; iris, dark brown ; the head above and the upper 

 parts of the body are light brown with a greenish tinge ; 

 around the neck is a black ring or collar from which comes 

 its name of ring neck plover; a spot at the base of the upper 

 mandible, a line over the eyes, ring around the neck, the 

 under part of the throat and the underparts of the body are 

 white, with white spots on the shorter primaries, and the 

 secondaries and the four middle feathers of the tail are tipped 

 with the same color. 



The range of the killdeer extends from Columbia and the 

 West Indies north to Manitoba and Alaska, and it breeds 

 throughout its range. In the southern states it commences 

 breeding about the beginning of April and a month later in 

 the Middle West. Its nest is a mere depression in the ground 

 and is difficult to find because the eggs are of a mottled 

 creamy color, and much resemble the ground or gravel about 

 them. Four of these constitute a set, and a peculiar fact is 

 that the small ends are laid together so as to form the appear- 

 ance of a Greek cross. The young are able to run early after 

 they are hatched, and the old birds are very devoted to them 

 so much so that the female will resort to all kinds of ruses and 

 manoeuvres in order to divert one who approaches them. She 

 will throw herself upon the ground two or three yards in ad- 

 vance, raise and flutter with one wing quite helplessly and cry 

 piteously, in order to lure the intruder away from her young 

 and give them a chance to escape and hide, and the male will 

 fly overhead in a circle about the intruder and scold him with 

 his "kill-dee, kill-dee, dee, dee, dee" in the most vehement way. 



The killdeers frequent uplands and lowlands, fields and 

 shores. They prefer newly plowed fields, the banks of clear 

 streams, and the elevated, worn-out grounds, where they feed 

 on worms, grasshoppers, small crustaceans and snails. I have 

 very pleasant recollections of them following the plow when 

 I was a plow-boy. One of their peculiar characteristics is their 

 restlessness. They are ever on the alert and always in a place 

 where they can see what is going on about them. One will run 

 about in a small space of ground here and there, and often 

 when there is nothing to disturb him, will take wing to some 



