132 Birds of Colorado 
In winter and juvenal plumage very similar to the above, but with 
less yellow ; below whitish, streaked and mottled on the sides of the 
neck and body and on the breast with dusky, but the axillaries always 
ashy-grey. 
Distribution.—Breeding chiefly on the Barren Grounds from Hudson 
Bay to northern Alaska, south in winter to the Argentine Pampas, 
passing mostly down the Atlantic coast and Mississippi Valley. 
There is very little information about the occurrence of the American 
Golden Plover in Colorado. Ridgway included it in his list of Colorado 
birds, and Cooke states that a few pass in the spring and fall over the 
plains of Colorado below 5,000 feet. Hersey and Rockwell find that 
it is not uncommon at Barr during migration. There is no Colorado 
example in the Aiken collection. 
Genus OXYECHUS. 
Bill rather slender ; tail long, at least half the length of the wing 
graduated an inch or more; plumage with two black bands across the 
chest. 
One American species. 
Killdeer. Oxyechus vociferus. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 273—Colorado Records—Allen 72, pp 152, 159; 
Aiken 72, p. 209; Scott 79, p. 96; Tresz 81, p. 243; Drew 81, p. 142; 
85, p. 15; Nash 83, p. 225; Allen & Brewster 83, p. 197; Beckham 
85, p. 143; 87, p. 124; Morrison 88, p. 139; 89, p. 181; Lowe 92, 
p. 101; McGregor 97, p. 38 ; Cooke 97, pp. 18, 68, 201 ; Dille 03, p. 74; 
Henderson 03, p. 234; 09, p. 228; Warren 06, p. 19; 08, p. 20; 09, 
p. 14; Markman 07, p. 156; Rockwell 08, p. 160; Hersey & Rockwell 
09, p. 116. 
Description.—Adult—Above brown, with an olive tinge, a white 
frontal band running back through the eye, bordered above by black ; 
a white collar also bordered by black; rump and upper tail-coverts 
rufous; wings dusky with a good deal of white on the secondaries 
and coverts ; tail dusky, rufous and white ; below white, with two black 
bands across the chest ; iris brown, eyelids orange-red or scarlet, bill 
black, legs pale flesh. Length 9-5; wing 6-4; tail 3-75; culmen ‘8; 
tarsus 1-3. 
The sexes are alike ; young birds are rather duller above, and the 
feathers margined with rusty and the black bands are greyish. 
Distribution.— Breeding throughout temperate North America from 
British Columbia and Ontario southwards; wintering in the Gulf 
States and southern California south to northern South America. 
