46 



BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



Total length, about 9 inches ; wing, 6 ; tail, 3^ inches. 



Hab. Temperate North America, migrating in winter to the West Indies and 

 central and northern South America. 



Reader I am sure you can always distinguish this bird by the well- 

 known cry which gives rise to its common name. Should you, how- 

 ever, have the lifeless body of one of these birds, you can without 

 any difficulty distinguish it from other of its numerous relatives by 

 the red eye-lids and long legs. In addition you will also see a white 

 line, with black margin, extending over the bill, between the eyes. 

 The white feathers of the throat are continuous, with a conspicuous 

 and immaculate collar, below which is a ring of black, separated by 

 a streak of white from a band of black across the breast. 



During the spring, summer and. autumn the Killdeer is common, 

 and in winter is quite frequently observed. The spotted pyriform 

 eggs, usually four in number, are placed in a slight hollow in the 

 ground, oftentimes near a hill of corn. 



FOOD. 



" The food of this species consists of earth-worms, grasshoppers, 

 crickets and coleopterous insects, as well as small Crustacea, whether 

 of salt or fresh water, and snails. Now and then they may be seen 

 thrusting their bills into the mud in search of some other food. Dur- 

 ing autumn they run about the old fields and catch an insect which 

 the Blue- bird has been watching with anxious care from the top of a 

 withering mullein stalk. They run briskly after the plowman, to 

 pick up the worms that have been turned out of their burrows. Now 

 standing on the grassy meadow, after a shower, you see them patting 

 the moist ground, to force out its inhabitants. During winter, you 

 meet with them on elevated ground, or along the margins of the 

 rivers ; but wherever you observe one about to pick up its food, you 

 clearly see its body moving in a see-saw manner on the joints of the 

 legs, until the former being so placed that the bill can reach the 

 ground, the object is seized, and the usual horizontal position is TQ- 



