CHAKADHIID.K — THE PLUVERS — -KGIALITIS. 151 



iiig to Audubon — tu run -like a Kildeer" has in some parts of the eoviiitiy passed 

 into a proverbial phrase. Tiiis bird is also equally active on the wing, and mounts 

 at pleasure to a great height in the air with a strong auil rapid flight, which can be 

 continued for a long distance. Sometimes it skims quite low over the ground, and 

 at other tinu-s uunuits to a great height ; and during the love-season it is said to 

 perform various kinds of evolutions while on the wing. 



Its note consists of two syllables, resembling in sound kill-dee, rapidly enun- 

 ciated; and oec'asionally, when the bird is much excited, only the last syllable is 

 repeated after the first utterance of the doidjle note. Generally it is sounded in a 

 loud, clear tone, and as a signal of alarm. It not unfrequently startles other birds 

 and puts them on their guard, this habit rendering the Kildeer an object of dislike 

 to the hunter. During the summer — especially when it is breeding, and afterward, 

 even when its yoimg are fully grown — the Kildeer is a noisy and restless bird, and 

 is disturbed by the near approach of man. It will often squat until one is close 

 upon it, and will then suddenly fly up or run ofi", startling the unwary intruder by 

 a loud and clcnr cry. According to Audubon, during the winter it is an unusually 

 silent bird. At this season it is found dispersed over the cultivated fields in Florida, 

 Georgia, the Carolinas, and other Southern States, diligently searching for food. 



It is said to breed in Louisiana in the beginning of April, in the Middle States 

 in :May, and on the Saskatchewan in June. Its nest is of very simple construction, 

 and is usually a mere hollow in the ground, without any lining, or with merely 

 a few bits of dry grasses. Occasionally it is said to construct a nest of grass in a 

 bunch of plants, but this is very rarely done. Wilson mentions having seen nests 

 of this species with small fragments of shells forming a rim around the eggs. 

 During incubation the parents alternate in sitting upon their eggs, and do not leave 

 them day or night, difl'ering in a marked manner, in this respect, from the melodus 

 and the Wilsoni. The young run about the instant they leave the shell. If the 

 nest is approached during incubation, or when the young are in danger, both parents 

 resort to various manoeuvres to entice away the intruder : the female droops her 

 wings, utters plaintive notes, and simulates lameness; the male is more demon- 

 strative, and dashes about his head with angry vociferations. 



The eggs are usually four in number, never more — so far as known to us — 

 and very rarely less. They are pyriform in shape, being much rounded at one 

 end, and pointed at the other. Their ground, when the egg is fresh, is a rich cream- 

 color, fading into a dull white, over which are profusely spread blotches of varying 

 shape and size, of dark purplish brown, approaching black. These increase in size 

 toward the larger end, and cover a greater proportion of it, but are finer and more 

 scattered elsewhere. They measure l.G,") inches in length Ijy 1.13 inches in their 

 greater breadth. 



Gexus KGIALITIS, Boie. 



^gialitis, BolE, Isis, 1822, 558 (type, Charadrlus hiaticulu, Linn.). 



^gialites, BoiE, Isis, 1826, 978. 



u^gialeus, Keichenb. 1. c. (type, Charadrius semipalmatus, Boxap. ). 



Leucopolius, Boxap. Compt. Reud. XLIII. 1856, 417 (type, Charadrius leucopuHus, Wagl.= C. mar- 



giiuitus, ViElLL. ). 

 ? Cirripalcsmus, Bonap. Compt. lieiid. 1856, 417 (type, Cluiradrius cirrhipcilesvms, Wagl. = CA. iiivn- 



golicus. Pall.). 



Char. Similar to Oxyechus, hut the species of smaller size, with shorter and less graduated 

 taQ (less than half as Ioiil; as the wing), and iunq> eoncolor with the back (grayish). 



