﻿The Killdeer 221 



the ground in which to place their four pyriform eggs of a delicate creamy 

 white tint thickly spotted or lined with chocolate-brown. Like the eggs of 

 all Plovers, their size is out of all proportion to the size of the bird. 



The Killdeer does not waste any time in building a nest, and only in rare 

 instances does it take the trouble to line the cavity in which it deposits its 

 eggs. Alexander Wilson, however, records an interesting nest which he 

 found " paved with fragments of clam and oyster shells, and very neatly 

 surrounded with a mound or border of the same, placed in a very close and 

 curious manner." 



The young Killdeers have little use for a nest, after they are born, for 

 the large size of the eggs ( 1 . 50 X 1.10 inches) permits the development of 

 large, strong legs and feet, so the young are really never nestlings in the 

 ordinary sense of the word, for they are prepared from birth to follow their 

 parents abroad, not by flight but by running. They differ in this respect 

 from the altricial birds, which do not leave their home until their wings are 

 strong enough to support them in flight. The solicitude of the parents for 

 their young is very marked. Wilson says: "Nothing can exceed the alarm 

 and anxiety of these birds during the breeding season. Their cries as they 

 winnow the air overhead, dive and course about you, or run along the 

 ground counterfeiting lameness, are shrill and incessant. The moment they 

 see a person approach, they fly or run to attack him with their harassing 

 clamour, continuing it over so wide an extent of ground that they puzzle 

 the pursuer as to the particular spot where the nest or young are 

 concealed." 



Audubon's description of the Killdeer's habits at this time are so quaint 

 that they are quoted also: "At this-period, or during incubation, the 

 parents, who sit alternately on the eggs, never leaving them to the heat of 

 the sun, are extremely clamourous at sight of an enemy. The female 

 droops her wings, emits her plaintive notes, and endeavors by every means 

 she can devise to draw you from the nest or young. The male dashes 

 over you in the air, in the manner of the European Lapwing, and vociferates 

 all the remonstrances of an angry parent whose family is endangered. If 

 you cannot find pity for the poor birds at such a time, you may take up 

 their eggs and see their distress; but if you be at all so tender-hearted as I 

 would wish you to be, it will be quite unnecessary for me to recommend 

 mercy." This is good advice, that I hope will be followed by every boy 

 and girl who reads this leaflet, — in fact by every person. 



If you should discover a nest of the Killdeer, carefully note the exact 

 spot where it is located. If it contains only three eggs, it will indicate that 

 the clutch is not vet complete and a very brief visit, after an interval of a 

 day or two, should be made. If four eggs are then found, it will show that 

 incubation has commenced. Visits at infrequent intervals should then be 

 made to ascertain the time that elapses before the young birds are hatched. 



