﻿THE KILLDEER 



By WILLIAM DUTCHER 



jftational $L&$otiation ot Audubon feocietteg 



EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 23 



This Plover, which derives its name from its oft-repeated note of kildee, 

 fcildee, dee, dee, dee, should be a familiar bird to all people who wisely seek 

 their health and pleasure out-of-doors with wide-open eyes. It is found 

 over the whole of temperate North America, and it breeds throughout its en- 

 tire range. In the winter months it is found from the parallel of the Gulf 

 States to northern South America and in the West Indies, although the 

 writer has found them on Long Island, New York, in every month of the 

 year but January. 



It is impossible to overlook the Killdeer by reason of its beauty of color- 

 ing, its trim appearance, its stately walk when undisturbed, its rapid and 

 graceful flight when startled. Every bird has its characteristic motion while 

 in the air, and the student who is a close observer soon learns to know 

 many birds from their appearance while in flight when their color is 

 indistinguishable and their notes but faintly heard. 



The writer has many bird pictures impressed upon his mind that never 

 can be effaced while time lasts for him, and standing out among them in 

 refreshing relief is a memory of a smooth -flowing river gently winding its 

 way from the hills through grassy meadows toward the sea, in which it 

 would soon be lost. It was in early autumn, when Nature exhibits her 

 choicest colors and the birds are flocking for their leisurely journey to the 

 distant southland, that a company of Killdeers were running about in one 

 of the brown fields for a fare of succulent grasshoppers or crickets, all the 

 while chatting with each other in colloquial tones. 



A human intruder appeared, and the startled birds arose from the ground 

 in flight but were reluctant to leave such rich foraging grounds. They 

 massed in solid ranks and whirled through the air, now high in graceful 

 evolutions, then downward with lightning rapidity, sweeping across the 

 field; breaking ranks and flying like leaves before a gale, only to mass 

 again for some new and intricate movement, which, if possible, was more 

 perfect than the first. 



Let us change the picture to the vernal season, and observe the Killdeer 

 after it has returned to its breeding home, a field which man may use for 

 growing his sugar, cotton, rice and corn or any of the other products so 

 necessary for his happiness, and even for his very existence. Then we see 

 i:he birds happily mated and employed in selecting a suitable depression in 



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