300 Bird - Lore 



THE KILLDEER 



One year a Killdeer lived in our pasture. When we were driving our cows 

 down to get a drink one day, we were walking along and all at once a bird 

 flew up and my brother started to chase it, because it went fluttering along as 

 if it was hurt. I said: "Go and look for the nest. It isn't hurt." Then he went 

 back to look for it and found four eggs lying in a little cow track, with their 

 pointed ends pointing down. Their color is a delicate creamy white tint and 

 they are 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. As soon as 

 the little ones are hatched, they leave the nest. When you go to look for them, 

 the old one will start up and act as if it cannot fly, and the young will run and 

 hide. The young are brown on the back, and have a white breast with a black 

 streak under the neck. They have long legs something like an Ostrich's legs. 

 The Killdeer builds in the swamps the most. Its call is kildee, kildee, dee, dee, 

 dee. — Charley B. Prudden (age 14, seventh grade). Bashing Ridge, Indiana. 



[The Killdeer, like the Whip-poor-will, builds little or no nest, and yet it succeeds 

 in making itself quite inconspicuous while incubating its eggs and brooding its young. 

 With the Bartramian Sandpiper ('Upland Plover') and certain others of its kind, this 

 beautiful species has become scarce in sections of its range, by reason of changing con- 

 ditions and inadequate protection. Let us study the habits of ground-nesting species 

 more closely, in order to better conserve them. — A. H. W.] 



THE KING BIRD 



Knight defender of every nest, 



Foe of every shade- tree killer; 

 Hunter of many a common pest, 



Gad-fly, moth, and caterpillar. 



Policeman over the fields of green, 



Chasing every crow from the farm; 

 Watchman keen when a hawk is seen, 



Giving the poultry wild alarm. 



Beautiful bird is he in flight, 



Sporting a fan of brilliant feather; 

 Black with a border of perfect white. 



Useful in every kind of weather. 



Bird King indeed of the catcher clan. 



And Queen of the clan his mate, 

 Proud as a prince of Hindostan, 



Or Alexander the Great. 



— By permission of Dr. Garrett Newkirk. 



