KILLDEER (Oxyechus vociferus) 
Length, 10 inches. Distinguished by 
piercing and oft-repeated cry—kildce. 
Range: Breeds throughout the United States 
and most of Canada; winters from central 
United States to South America. 
Habits and economic status: The kildeer is 
one of the best known of the shorebird family. 
It often visits the farmyard and commonly 
nests in pastures or cornfields, It is rather 
suspicious, however, and on being approached 
takes flight with loud cries. It is noisy and 
restless, but fortunately most of its activities 
result in benefit to man. The food is of the 
same general nature as that of the upland 
plover, but is more varied. The kildeer feeds 
upon beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, 
bugs, caddis flies, dragonflies, centipedes, spi- 
ders, ticks, oyster worms, earthworms, snails, 
crabs, and other crustacea. Among the beetles 
consumed are such pests as the alfalfa weevil, 
cotton-boll weevil, clover-root weevil, clover- 
leaf weevil, pine weevil, billbugs, white grubs, 
wireworms, and leaf beetles. The bird also de- 
vours cotton worms, cotton cutworms, horse- 
flies, mosquitoes, cattle ticks, and crawfish. 
One stomach contained hundreds of larve of 
the saltmarsh mosquito, one of the most trou- 
blesome species. The kildeer preys extensively 
upon insects that are annoying to man and in- 
jurious to his stock and crops, and this should 
be enough to remove it from the list of game 
birds and insure its protection, i‘ 
its 
BLACK TERN (Hydrochelidon nigra 
surinamensis) 
Length, 10 inches. In autumn occurs as a 
migrant on the east coast of the United States, 
and then is in white and gray plumage. Dur- 
ing the breeding season it is confined to the 
interior, is chiefly black, and is the only dark 
tern occurring inland. 
Range: Breeds from California, Colorado, 
Missouri, and Ohio, north to central Canada; 
winters from Mexico to South America; mi- 
grant in the eastern United States. 
Habits and economic status: This tern, un- 
like most of its relatives, passes much of its 
life on fresh-water lakes and marshes of the 
interior. Its nests are placed among the tules 
and weeds, on floating vegetation, or on musk- 
rat houses. It lays from 2 to 4 eggs. Its food 
is more varied than that of any other tern. So 
far as known, it preys upon no food fishes, 
but feeds extensively upon such enemies of fish 
as dragonfly, nymphs, fish-eating beetles, and 
crawfishes. Unlike most of its family, it de- 
vours a great variety of insects, many of which 
it catches as it flies. Dragonflies, May flies, 
grasshoppers, predaceous diving beetles, scara- 
beid beetles, leaf beetles, gnats, and other flies 
are the principal kinds preyed upon. Fishes 
of little economic value, chiefly minnows and 
mummichogs, were found to compose only a 
little more than 19 per cent of the contents of 
145 stomachs. The great consumption of in- 
sects by the black tern places it among the 
beneficial species worthy of protection. 
71 
UPLAND PLOVER (Bartramia 
longicauda) 
Length, 12 inches. The only plainly colored 
shorebird which occurs east of the plains and 
inhabits exclusively dry fields and hillsides. 
Range: Breeds from Oregon, Utah, Okla- 
homa, Indiana, and Virginia, north to Alaska; 
winters in South America. 
Habits and economic status: This, the most 
terrestrial of our waders, is shy and wary, but 
it has the one weakness of not fearing men on 
horseback or in a vehicle. One of these meth- 
ods of approach, therefore, is nearly always 
used by the sportsman, and, since the bird is 
highly prized as a table delicacy, it has been 
hunted to the verge of extermination. As the 
upland plover is strictly beneficial, it should 
no longer be classed as a game bird and al- 
lowed to be shot. Ninety-seven per cent of 
the food of this species consists of animal 
forms, chiefly of injurious and neutral species. 
The vegetable food is mainly weed seeds. Al- 
most half of the total subsistence is made up 
of grasshoppers, crickets, and weevils. Among 
the weevils eaten are the cotton-boll weevil, 
greater and lesser clover-leaf weevils, cowpea 
weevils, and billbugs. This bird devours also 
leaf beetles, wireworms, white grubs, army 
worms, cotton worms, cotton cutworms, saw- 
fly larve, horseflies, and cattle ticks. In brief, 
it injures no crop, but consumes a host of the 
worst enemies of agriculture, 
FRANKLIN’S GULL (Larus franklini) 
Length, 15 inches. During its residence in 
the United States Franklin’s gull is practically 
confined to the interior and is the only inland 
gull with black head and red bill. 
Range: Breeds in the Dakotas, Iowa, Minne- 
sota, and the neighboring parts of southern 
Canada; winters from the Gulf coast to South 
America. 
Habits and economic status: Nearly all of 
our gulls are coast-loving species and spend 
comparatively little of their time in fresh 
water, but Franklin’s is a true inland gull. Ex- 
tensive marshes bordering shallow lakes are 
its chosen breeding grounds, and as many such 
areas are being reclaimed for agricultural pur- 
poses it behooves the tillers of the soil to pro- 
tect this valuable species. When undisturbed 
this gull becomes quite fearless and follows 
the plowman to gather the grubs and worms 
from the newly turned furrows. It lives al- 
most exclusively upon insects, of which it con- 
sumes great quantities. Its hearty appetite is 
manifest from the contents of a few stomachs: 
A, 327 nymphs of dragonflies; B, 340 grass- 
hoppers, 52 bugs, 3 beetles, 2 wasps, and I spi- 
der; C, 82 beetles, 87 bugs, 984 ants, and 1 
cricket, 1 grasshopper, and 2 spiders. About 
four-fifths of the total food is grasshoppers, a 
strong point in favor of this bird. Other in- 
jurious creatures eaten are billbugs, squash 
bugs, leaf-hoppers, click beetles (adults of 
wireworms), May beetles (adults of white 
grubs), and weevils. Franklin’s gull is prob- 
ably the most beneficial bird of its group. 
