64 BIRDS OF SOUTH DAKOTA 



SHORE BIRDS 



This order embraces several families usually called Snipes 

 or Waders. Most of them have long legs and bills, which en- 

 able them to procure their food along muddy shores or in shal- 

 low water. The Killdeer and the Upland Plover are more terres- 

 trial than the others and frequent our prairies, especially during 

 the nesting season. On the other hand the Phalaropes and 

 Avocets have lobed or partly webbed feet and are fairly good 

 swimmers. Two species of the Phalaropes, when not nesting, 

 spend much of their time at sea several miles from the coast, 

 feeding on small marine forms. Other interesting characteristics 

 of the Phalaropes are that the females are larger and more bright- 

 ly colored than the males, and that after the eggs are laid the 

 males do the incubating. It is believed by some authorities that 

 he alone feeds and cares for the young. 



In earlier years many of the Shore Birds nested in abun- 

 dance in our State, but today their former nesting grounds are 

 either under cultivation or in pasture. With no grassy environ- 

 ment and the continual tramping of stock, no safe place is left in 

 South Dakota for the Snipes to nest and rear their young. Their 

 food consists chiefly of insects and insect larvae, consequently 

 the economic value of Shore Birds is very great. Not only do 

 they destroy great numbers of insects which are destructive to 

 crops, but eight species recorded as summer residents of South 

 Dakota devour immense quantities of mosquito larvae. (United 

 States Biological Survey Circular No. 79.) The Killdeer and 

 the Upland Plover eat the larvae of the horsefly. Eight species 

 are known to eat the larvae of the crane-fly, a pest of the grass 

 fields. Later in summer a large portion of the food of many of 

 our Snipes consists of young Rocky Mountain locusts and grass- 

 hoppers. Although their flesh is considered a great delicacy, 

 yet on account of their small size and the fact that they feed 

 upon many of the worst enemies of agriculture, their protection 

 deserves the encouragement of every one. 



FAMILY PHALAROPODID^. PHALAROPES 



223. Northern Phalarope (Lobipes lobatus.) 



This is one of the "Swimming Snipes" that lives much of 



