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THE KILDEER PLOVER. 



Charadrius vociferus, Wils. 



PLATE CCXV. Male and Female. 



Reader, suppose yourself wandering over some extensive prairie, far 

 beyond the western shores of the Mississippi. While your wearied limbs 

 and drooping spirits remind you of the necessity of repose and food, you 

 see the moon's silvery rays glitter on the dews that have already clothed the 

 tall grass around you. Your footsteps, be they ever so light, strike the 

 ear of the watchful Kiideer, who, with a velocity scarcely surpassed by 

 that of any other bird, comes up, and is now passing and repassing swiftly 

 around you. His clear notes indicate his alarm, and seem to demand why 

 i/ou are there. To see him is now impossible, for a cloud has shrouded 

 the moon ; but on your left and right, before and behind, his continued 

 vociferations intimate how glad he would be to see you depart from his 

 beloved hunting-grounds. Nay, be not surprised if he should follow you 

 until his eyes, meeting the glaring light of a woodsman traveller, he will 

 wheel off and bid' you adieu. 



The Kildeer's large eyes seem to be given it to enable it to feed by 

 night as well as by day. At any time after the breeding season, this 

 species moves in loose flocks, seldom exceeding ten or fifteen individuals, 

 which disperse over the space of an acre or two of ground. Yet some one 

 of them always acts as a sentinel, for standing erect to the full stretch of 

 its legs, it carefully watches all the moving objects around, as far as its 

 eye can reach. Cows, horses, or sheep are none of its enemies, and among 

 them it will seek for food ; but let a man, or a dog, or any other animal 

 bent on destruction, shew himself, and that instant the bird runs swiftly 

 with a querulous note, and should any of these his enemies evince the 

 least disposition to molest it, its beautiful wings and tail are spread, and 

 away it goes, cheerily calling to its companions to follow. 



The Kiideer is by most people called a " noisy bird and restless." 

 Now to me it is any thing but this, unless indeed when it is disturbed by 

 the approach or appearance of its enemies, more particularly man, of 

 whom indeed few wild birds are fond. Watch them from under some 



