73 



KILDEER PLOVER. 

 CHARADRIUS VOCIFEBUS. 

 [Plate LIX.— Fig. 6.] 



Arct, Zool. JVo. 400 Catesby, I, 71. — Le KiUir, Burr. VIII, 96. — Peale's Museum, JVo. 4174. 



THIS restless and noisy bird is known to almost every inha- 

 bitant of the United States, being a eommon 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 sea- 

 sons; 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, peb- 

 bles or earth. In one instance I found the nest of this bird paved 

 with fragments of clam and oyster shells, and very neatly sur- 

 rounded with a mound or border of the same, placed in a very 

 close and curious manner. In some cases there is no vestige 

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

 cream or yellowish clay color, 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, taper- 

 ing to a narrow point at the great end. 



Nothing can exceed the alarm and anxiety of these birds du« 

 ring the breeding season. Their cries of Kildeer^ kildeeVj as they 



VOL. VII. T 



