38 BIRD PARADISE 



and they use it with wonderful power and skill. 

 Some one has said "that without humor there 

 can be no genius." By that rule flicker ranks 

 high as a bird genius. He is all alive with abun- 

 dant humor. 



Among the water birds that spend the summers 

 in our hill country killdeer ranks with the first. 

 He comes northward quite early and I conclude 

 from his actions passes several weeks in real 

 bird-pastime before he takes up the regular busi- 

 ness of housekeeping. His entire song is meas- 

 ured by the one word, which has become his 

 name, killdeer. Curious how he uses it when on 

 the wing. He flies rapidly and at almost every 

 stroke of the wings the note is uttered shrill and 

 clear. The bird gives one the impression, like 

 the blue jay, that it is very much in love with its 

 song. In the marshy ground just east of the vil- 

 lage there are several places where killdeer nests. 

 The nest is hardly more than a slight cavity in 

 the ground, though it is sometimes partially 

 lined with a few spears of dried grass. The 

 little stretches of sandy beach that are found 

 here and there in the marsh are favorite runways 

 for the killdeer. I have watched them at times 

 when I thought every bird was full of the spirit 



