240 ScientifiG Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



appear upon the prairie resorting to the low-lying flats along the 

 edges of the creeks, especially where these have been lately 

 overflowed. They are at first by no means wild, often allowing 

 the sportsman to walk within easy range, and when one of a 

 flock is killed, frequently sweeping round over the body of the 

 victim, and thus affording an easy shot to the second barrel. A 

 very few days however teach them caution, and they then 

 become exceptionally wild. Their numbers are so great that I 

 have often received my first notice of the approach of a flock 

 through the noise made by their wings, which may be heard at a 

 great distance, and long before the flock itself becomes visible, 

 sounding as if a strong breeze were approaching. By the middle 

 of April the spring migration has ceased. They are very scarce 

 during the fall, passing in small parties in August and September, 

 and according to my experience, never alighting. 



OxYECHUS vociFERUS (Linn). Kildeer — This pretty species 

 is resident in our county, and is usually found in summer upon 

 bare sandy places, about which a few mesquites are scattered, 

 beneath the shade of which they pass the heat of the day. In such 

 places they probably form their nests, which, however, I never 

 succeeded in finding ; the cause of my failure in this may possibly 

 have been that 1 commenced my search too late, since, I found 

 young birds which must have been some days out of the shell 

 during the last week of April. During the autumn and winter 

 they may invariably be met with upon fallow lands, and places 

 where the prairie has been turned up for the first time prepara- 

 tory to cropping. They are very confiding, rarely flying far even 

 when fired at, and, at all times, allowing a near approach. Dur- 

 ing March, large flocks pass northward in company with curlews 

 and golden plover ; but, on the return migration, which occurs in 

 October and November, they are unaccompanied. Their food 

 consists of insects of all kinds and in all stages, and is always 

 plentifully mixed with fine gravel. 



Gallinago media wilsoni (Temm.) Wilson's Snipe. — Very 

 scarce in this district, owing to the absence of marshy land, so 

 that they are only found during the seasons of migration and 

 during winter in isolated spots which heavy rains have flooded. 

 They are very tame, never flying more than fifty yards, even 

 when fired at, and lying until they are almost trodden on. Their 



