370 KILDEER PLOVER. 



KILDEER PLOVER. (Oharadrius vociferus) 



PLATE LIX.— Fig. 6. 



Arct. Zool. No. 400.— Catesby, i. 71.— Le Kildir, Buff. viii. 96.— Peak's Museum, 



No. 4174. 



CHARADRIUS VOCIFERUS.— Linnaeus.* 

 Charadrius vociferus, Bonap. Synop. North. Zool. ii. p. 368. 



This restless and noisy bird is known to almost every inhabi- 

 tant of the United States, being a common and pretty constant 

 resident. During the severity of winter, when snow covers the 

 ground, it retreats to the sea-shore, where it is found at all 

 seasons ; but no sooner have the rivers broke up, than its shrill 

 note is again heard, either roaming about high in air, tracing 

 the shore of the river, or running amidst the watery flats and 

 meadows. As spring advances, it resorts to the newly-ploughed 

 fields, or level plains bare of grass interspersed with shallow 

 pools, or, in the vicinity of the sea, dry bare sandy fields. 

 In some such situation it generally chooses to breed about the 

 beginning of May. The nest is usually slight, a mere hollow, 

 with such materials drawn in around it as happen to be near, 

 such as bits of sticks, straw, pebbles, or earth. In one in- 

 stance, I found the nest of this bird paved with fragments 

 of clam and oyster shells, and very neatly surrounded with a 

 mound or border of the same, placed in a very close and 

 curious mauner. In some cases there is no vestige whatever 

 of a nest. The eggs are usually four, of a bright rich cream 

 or yellowish clay colour, thickly marked with blotches of 

 black. They are large for the size of the bird, measuring 

 more than an inch and a half in length, and a full inch in 

 width, tapering to a narrow point at the great end. 



* An abundant and well-known species, and peculiar to both conti- 

 nents of America, with some of the West Indian islands. According to 

 the " Northern Zoology," it arrives on the plains of the Saskatchewan 

 about the 20th of April, and at that season frequents the gardens and 

 cultivated fields of the trading post with the utmost familiarity. — Ed. 



