WATER BIRDS. 213 
South America the writer has sometimes seen flocks pass in rapid succession 
for many hours at a time. ; 
Although they extend their migrations to all parts of the southern 
hemisphere, even to Australia and Patagonia, they are not known to nest 
anywhere except in Arctic regions, the American form nesting largely in 
Alaska and British America to the northwest of Hudson Bay. ‘Three or 
four eggs are laid in a slight hollow in the ground. They are buff, grayish 
olive, or brownish, and spotted with brownish black. They average 
2.07 by 1.40 inches. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Similar in all its plumages to the Black-bellied Plover, except in three respects, viz.: 
The hind toe is always absent, the axillars are pale smoky gray instead of clear black, and 
the upper parts are always distinctly spotted with buffy or pale yellow. This latter pattern 
is seen also in the young Black-belly, but the yellow spots then are fewer and duller. Length 
9.50 to 10.80 inches; wing 6.80 to 7.40; culmen .80 to 1; tarsus 1.55 to 1.82. 
116. Killdeer. Oxyechus vociferus (Linn.). (273) 
Synonyms: Noisy Plover.—Charadrius vociferus Linn., 1758, Wils., Nutt., Aud.— 
Aegilitis vociferus, Bonap., Cass., Baird, Coues.—Oxyechus vociferus, Reich., 1853, Ridgw., 
1881.—Charadrius torquatus, Linn., 1766. 
Figure 87. 
Unique among our plover in having two black bands across the upper 
breast, and the rump and upper tail-coverts bright cinnamon brown. 
Distribution —Temperate North America, breeding north to New- 
foundland and Manitoba, migrating to the West Indies and Central and 
northern South America. Bermuda. 
The Killdeer is too well known to merit any extended notice. It spends 
the entire warmer half of the year with us, arriving from the south as soon 
as any considerable amount 
of bare ground appears in 
the spring, and lingering in 
autumn until the first snow 
falls. Probably the greater 
number arrive during the last 
of March and first of April 
and depart toward the end 
of September, but consider- 
able numbers come earlier 
and stay later. 
The Killdeer frequents wet 
and dry places alike, but it 
shows a decided pase eee 
for newly plowed fields anc Rey Brey Woldeer z 7 
especially for the edges of the From Soe est of North 
shallow muddy pools which a 
abound everywhere throughout the state. It is one of the noisiest of the 
shore birds, and in Coues new Key we find the name Noisy Plover given as 
one of its synonyms. Though not exactly a gregarious bird, it is seldom 
found alone, being most often seen in little companies of two to eight, 
except during the nesting season when it 1s found only in pairs. 
