THE KILLDEER 
By WILLIAM DUTCHER 
j^attonal ^00ociatton of )3utiubon &ottetir0 
EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 23 
This Plover, which derives its name from its oft-repeated note of kildety 
kildecy dee, dee, dee, should be a familiar bird to all people who wisely seek 
their health and pleasure out-of-doors with wide-open eyes. It is found 
over the whole of temperate North America, and it breeds throughout its en- 
tire range. In the winter months it is found from the parallel of the Gulf 
States to northern South America and in the West Indies, although the 
writer has found them on Long Island, New York, in every month of the 
year but January. 
It is impossible to overlook the Killdeer by reason of its beauty of color- 
ing, its trim appearance, its stately walk when undisturbed, its rapid and 
graceful flight when startled. Every bird has its characteristic motion while 
in the air, and the student who is a close observer soon learns to know 
many birds from their appearance while in flight when their color is 
indistinguishable and their notes but faintly heard. 
The writer has many bird pictures impressed upon his mind that never 
can be effaced while time lasts for him, and standing out among them in 
refreshing relief is a memory of a smooth -flowing river gently winding its 
way from the hills through grassy meadows toward the sea, in which it 
would soon be lost. It was in early autumn, when Nature exhibits her 
choicest colors and the birds are flocking for their leisurely journey to the 
distant southland, that a company of Killdeers were running about in one 
of the brown fields for a fare of succulent grasshoppers or crickets, all the 
while chatting with each other in colloquial tones. 
A human intruder appeared, and the startlea birds arose from the ground 
in flight but were reluctant to leave such rich foraging grounds. They 
massed in solid ranks and whirled through the air, now high in graceful 
evolutions, then downward with lightning rapidity, sweeping across the 
field; breaking ranks and flying like leaves before a gale, only to mass 
again for some new and intricate movement, which, if possible, was more 
perfect than the first. 
Let us change the picture to the vernal season, and observe the Killdeer 
after it has returned to its breeding home, a field which man may use for 
growing his sugar, cotton, rice and corn or any of the other products so 
necessary for his happiness, and even for his very existence. Then we see 
the birds happily mated and employed in selecting a suitable depression in 
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