148 



PR^XOCIAL GHALLATORES — LIMICOL^. 



Oxyechus vociferus. 



THE KILDEEE PLOVER. 



Chamdrius vonfcrus. Link. S. N. ed. 10, I. 1758, 150 ; ed. 12, I. 1766, 253. — Wils. Am. Orii. VII. 



1813, 73, pi. 59, fig. 6. — NuTT. Man. II. 1834, 22. — AuD. Orn. Biog. III. 1835, 191 ; V. 1839, 



577, pi. 225 ; Synop. 1839, 222 ; B. Am. V. 1842, 207, pi. 317. 

 ^gilitis vociferus, Bonap. Comp. List, 1838, 45. — Cassin in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 692. — 



Baikd, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 504. — CouES, Key, 1872, 244; Check List, 1874, no. 397; 



2d ed. 1882, Jio. 584. 



Oxyechus vociferus, Reich. Syst. Xv. 1853, pi. xviii Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 516. 



Charadrius torquatus, LlXN'. S. K. L 1766, 255. 

 Charadriiis jamaiccnsis, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 685. 



Hab. The whole of temperate North America, migrating in winter into tropical America as lar 

 as New Granada ; We.st Indie.5 in general ; Bermudas ; Biver A-\'on, Enghiml (tiile ScL., Ibis, 

 1862, 275 ; one specimen taken April, 18.57). 



Sp. Char. Adult: Pileum and upper parts generally, grayish brown, inclining to umber; 

 rump and ujiper tail-coverts ochraoeous-rufous, lighter on the latter. Forehead and broad super- 

 ciliary stripe, throat, nuchal collar, and lower parts, white. Fore part of the ci'own, loral stripe, 

 continued toward occiput, collar round neck, and band across breast, black. Primaries dusky, the 



inner quills marked on outer webs -svith white. Tail chiefly pale ochraceous-rufous, variefated 

 with white, dusky, and grayish, chiefly toward the end. Bill black ; iris dark brown ; eyelids 

 (in life) orange-red or scarlet ; legs and feet pale pinkish grayish, or pale grayish yellow. 



Younr/: Similar to the adult, but feathers of the upper parts more or less conspicuously mar- 

 gined with pale rusty or fulvous. 



Downy Young: Upper parts generally, including pileum, light grayish brown, the two areas of 

 this color bounded all round by black, a wide collar of which crosses the jugnlum, and, e.xtending 

 across the nape beneath a broad white collar, completely encircles the neck ; a 1noa<l bar of velvety 

 black down the middle of the humeral region, and a narrow, more interrupted stripe of the same 

 down the rump. Forehead, throat, lower parts generally, " hand-wing," and posterior border of 

 the humerns, pure white ; the flanks and crissum more isabella-color ; a narrow lilack line run- 

 ning from the rictus to the eye. 



Total length, about in inches ; extent of wings, 20..50 ; wing, 6. .50 ; tail, 3,50. 



The Killdee, or Kilrteer Plover, has a wide distribution throughout the continent, 

 and breeds, wherever it is found, from Central America, Mexico, and Southwestern 

 Texas, to the plains of the Saskatchewan. It is more abundant in some parts of the 



