THE 00L0QI8T 



155 



straws, in a hollow on ground, in 

 grain field. Locality, Columbia Coun- 

 ty, five and one-half miles southwest 

 of Columbus, Wisconsin. Date, June 

 1893. 



Four eggs, fresh, ground, clay or 

 greenish cream color, heavily marked 

 almost entirely around the large end, 

 with specks, spots, scrolls and 

 blotches, of grayish and black-brown, 

 and under markings of lilac; shape 

 pyriform. Measure 1.54 x 1.07, 1.50 x 

 1.05, 1.48 X 1.05, 1.50 x 1.08 inches. 

 Nest on the ground in marsh, well 

 built of bits of grass and rootlets. Lo- 

 cality, Columbia County, Columbus, 

 Wisconsin. Date. May 31, 1896. 



Four eggs, slightly incubated, rich 

 creamy white ground color, quite 

 heavily marked with the usual mark- 

 ings peculiar to Kildeer's eggs, of 

 black, dirty brown specks and spots 

 with under markings of lilac, show a 

 few scrawls of the blackish color. 

 Pyriform. Measure 1.50 x 1.05, 1.55 x 

 1.10, 1.58 x; 1.05, 1.52 x 1.08 inches. 

 Nest in hollow where there had once 

 stood, on a long swell or knoll, in an 

 upland pasture of virgin soil; bits of 

 leaves and weeds, and dried dung and 

 around edge bits of dead wood and 

 dung. Locality, Dodge County, just 

 southeast of Columbus, Wisconsin. 

 Date, April 29th, 1897. 



Four eggs, incubated, ground color 

 of grayish cream, quite heavily 

 marked with black, brown and umber, 

 in coarse specks, spots and blotches, 

 with finer under markings of lilac, 

 scattered more or less over the whole 

 surface, the heaviest markings near- 

 est the large end; pyriform, measure 

 1.45 X 1.05, 1.42 X 1.08, 1.48 x 1.08, 1.50 

 X 1.05 inches. Nest slight hollow in 

 ground, between two weed tufts, well 

 lined with bits of stubble; mold oat 

 field. Locality, Columbia County, 

 Columbus, Wisconsin. Date, June 4, 

 1899. 



Four eggs, slightly incubated, light 

 creamy or buff ground color, well 

 marked over the entire surface with 

 black-brown scrawls, spots and dots 

 peculiar to these eggs and undermark- 

 ings of lilac. Pyriform shape. Aver- 

 age size (cannot give measurements 

 at this time, as the set is stored with 

 my collection). Nest in large flat spar- 

 ingly covered with gravel, placed in 

 hollow in top of a small heap of 

 pebbles, probably four quarts of same, 

 no nesting material other than the 

 pebbles. Locality, Lake County, Zion 

 City, Illinois. Date, May, 1909. 



While searching for nests in the 

 large old upland pasture referred to un- 

 der the date of April 29, 1897, all un- 

 known to me I had been closely 

 watched. 1 had wanted to get a photo- 

 graph of a Killdeer's nest and eggs, 

 and procuring a camera I retired to 

 this pasture. While waiting about to 

 get a good picture of the birds too, if 

 possible, I noticed a team stop over 

 in the road a half mile away, and the 

 people gaze at me. Finally a second 

 team came up and stopped, and all 

 seemed to be watching me with a 

 great deal of interest, even standing 

 up in the seat of the rigs. Soon the 

 first rig, evidently going fishing, trans- 

 ferred their poles to the other rig, and 

 turning about, drove back to town as 

 fast as their horse could go. By this 

 time I became quite interested, and 

 still more so, when a little later, I saw 

 one of our neighbors come driving 

 down the road pell mell. I thought, 

 what the heck! He had the city 

 marshal an old friend of mine, 

 and- his dog, an exceedingly intel- 

 ligent animal. They stopped near 

 the others and the marshal and his 

 dog got out. Things were indeed 

 getting interesting, and probably if I 

 hadn't had on a rather tight fitting 

 cap my pompadour would have pushed 

 it off, but you couldn't see it made my 



