﻿The Killdeer 223 



cotton -growing districts. It is also especially effective in holding in check 

 the Rocky Mountain locust, having received special mention in the 

 government report on that destructive insect. 



. In Bulletin No. 25, United States Department of Agriculture, the 

 government expert, Arthur H. Howell, says: "The Killdeer frequents plowed 

 fields, often in large numbers, and the destruction of weevils at the period 

 of spring plowing is a highly important service." 



We find that the Killdeer is of great value aesthetically by reason of its 

 beauty and interesting personality; it is of extreme value economically 

 because it destroys enormous numbers of insects, two kinds of which are 

 costing the agriculturists of the country millions of dollars annually; it is 

 practically worthless for food owing to its small size, and no self-respecting 

 sportsman ever shoots one. Let me quote from a quaint old volume 

 published in 1848 by that prince of sportsmen, Frank Forester, who, at the 

 end of his chapter on the Plovers, adds these few words: "In addition to 

 these we have the well-known, common and beautiful variety, the Killdeer 

 Plover, so named from its peculiar cry, which it is both cruel and useless to 

 kill, as it is too insignificant to be regarded as game." Let the public give 

 the Killdeer the appreciation and protection it richly deserves. 



Questions for Teachers and Students 



How are feet of Plover different from those of other birds? Is the Killdeer found in your 

 ocality? At what season of the year? What is meaning of pyriform? What is a clutch ? 

 What is the meaning of incubation ? What is the meaning of simulate ? What are cole- 

 optera? Describe the boll-weevil and its transformation. In what way is it destructive to 

 cotton? Describe the Rocky Mountain locust and the damage it does. Use available 

 questions in previous leaflets. Read excellentpapers on the Killdeer in Bird-Lore, Vol. I, 

 page 35 and Vol. II, page 148; also "How to Study Birds," V r ol. V, page 89. 



