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KILLDEER (Oxyechus 

 vociferus). 



Length, 10 inches. Distin- 

 guished by its piercing and oft- 

 repeated cry — kildee. 



Range: Breeds throughout 

 the United States and most 

 of Canada; winters from cen- 

 tral United States to South 

 America. 



Habits and economic statue: 

 The killdeer is one of the best 

 known of the shorebird family. 

 It often visits the farmj'^ard 

 and commonly nests in pas- 

 tures or cornfields. It is rather suBi)iciouB, however, and on being approached 

 takes flyight with loud cries. It is noisy and restless, but fortunately most of its 

 activities result in benefit to man. The food is of the same general nature as that 

 of the upland plover, but is more varied. The killdeer feeds upon beetles, grass- 

 hoppers, caterpillars, ants, bugs, caddis flies, dragonflies, centipedes, spiders, 

 ticks, oyster worms, earthworms, snails, crabs, and other Crustacea. Among the 

 beetles consumed are such pests as the alfalfa weevil, cotton-boll weevil, clover- 

 root weevil, clover-leaf weevil, pine weevil, billbugs, white grubs, wireworms, 

 and leaf beetles. The bird also devours cotton worms, cotton cutworms, horse- 

 flies, mosquitoes, cattle ticks, and crawfish. One stomach contained hundreds 

 of larvae of the saltmarsh mosquito, one of the most troublesome species. The 

 killdeer preys extensively upon insects that are annoying to man and injurious 

 to his stock and crops, and this should be enough to remove it from the list of 

 game birds and insure its protection. (See Farmers' Bui. 497, pp. 16-18.) 



UPLAND PLOVER (Bartramia longicauda). 



Length, 12 inches. The only plainly colored shorebird which occurs east of 

 the plains and inhabits exclusively dry fields and hillsides. 



Range: Breeds from Oregon, Utah, Oklahoma, Indiana, and Virginia, north 

 to Alaska; winters in South America. 



Habits and economic status: This, the most terrestrial of our waders, is shy 

 and wary, but it has the one weakness of not fearing men on horseback or in a 

 vehicle. One of these methods of approach, therefore, is nearly always used by 

 the sportsman, and, since the bird is highly prized as a table delicacy, it has 

 been hunted to the verge of extermination. As the upland plover is strictly ben- 

 eficial, it should no longer be classed as a game bird and allowed to be shot. 

 Ninety-seven per cent of the food of this species consists of animal forms, chiefly of 

 injuriousand neutral species. The vegetable food is mainly weed seeds. Almost 



half of the total subsistence is 

 made up of grasshoppers, crick- 

 ets, and weevils. Among the 

 weevils eaten are the cotton- 

 boll weevil, greater and lesser 

 clover-leaf weevils, cowpea 

 weevils, and billbugs. This 

 bird devours also leaf beetles, 

 wireworms, white grubs, army 

 worms, cotton worms, cotton 

 cutworms, sawfly larvse, horse- 

 flies, and cattle ticks. In 

 brief, it injures no crop, but 

 consumes a host of the 

 worst enemies of agriculture. 

 (See Farmers' Bui. 497, pp. 

 14-16.) 



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