148 
PILECOCIAL GRALLATORES — LIMICOLiE. 
Oxyechus vociferus. 
THE KILDEER PLOVER. 
Charadrius vociferus, Linn. S. N. ed. 10, I. 1758, 150 ; ed. 12, I. 1766, 253. — Wils. Am. Orn. VII. 
1813, 73, pi. 59, fig. 6. — Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 22. — Aim. Orn. Biog. III. 1835, 191 : V. 1839, 
577, pi. 225 ; Synop. 1839, 222 ; B. Am. V. 1842, 207, pi. 317. 
JEgilitis vociferus, Bonap. Comp. List, 1838, 45. — Cassin in Baird’s B. N. Am. 1858, 692. — 
Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 504. — Coues, Key, 1872, 244 ; Check List, 1874, no. 397 ; 
2d ed. 1882, no. 584. 
Oxyechus vociferus, Reich. Syst. Av. 1853, pi. xviii. — Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 516. 
Charadrius torquatus, Linn. S. N. I. 1766, 255. 
Charadrius jamaicensis, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 685. 
IIab. The whole of temperate North America, migrating in winter into tropical America as far 
as New Granada ; West Indies in general ; Bermudas ; River Avon, England (fide Scl., Ibis, 
1862, 275 ; one specimen taken April, 1857). 
Sp. Char. Adult : Pileum and upper parts generally, grayish brown, inclining to umber ; 
rump and upper tail-coverts ochraceous-rufous, lighter on the latter. Forehead and broad super- 
ciliary stripe, throat, nuchal collar, and lower parts, white. Fore part of the crown, loral stripe, 
continued toward occiput, collar round neck, and band across breast, black. Primaries dusky, the 
inner quills marked on outer webs with white. Tail chiefly pale ochraceous-rufous, variegated 
with white, dusky, and grayish, chiefly toward the end. Bill black ; iris dark brown ; eyelids 
(in life) orange-red or scarlet ; legs and feet pale pinkish grayish, or pale grayish yellow. 
Young : Similar to the adult, but feathers of the upper parts more or less conspicuously mar- 
gined with pale rusty or fulvous. 
Downy Young: Upper parts generally, including pileum, light grayish brown, the two areas of 
this color bounded all round by black, a wide collar of which crosses the jugulum, and, extending 
across the nape beneath a broad white collar, completely encircles the neck ; a broad bar of velvety 
black down the middle of the humeral region, and a narrow, more interrupted stripe of the same 
down the rump. Forehead, throat, lower parts generally, “ hand-wing,” and posterior border of 
the humerus, pure white ; the flanks and crissum more isabella-color ; a narrow black line run- 
ning from the rictus to the eye. 
Total length, about 10 inches ; extent of wings, 20.50 ; wing, 6.50 ; tail, 3.50. 
The Killclee, or Kildeer Plover, has a wide distribution throughout the continent, 
and breeds, wherever it is found, from Central America, Mexico, and Southwestern 
Texas, to the plains of the Saskatchewan. It is more abundant in some parts of the 
