90 
The Killdeer 
we see the birds happily mated and employed in selecting a suitable 
depression in the ground in which to place their four pyriform eggs of 
a delicate, creamy-white tint, thickly spotted or lined with chocolate- 
brown. Like the eggs of all plovers, their size is surprisingly large 
in proportion to the size of the bird. 
The Killdeer does not waste any time in building a nest, and only 
in rare instances does it take the trouble to line the shallow cavity on the 
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 
manner.” 
The young Killdeers have little use for a nest after they are born, 
for the large size of the eggs (1.50 by 1.10 inches) permits the develop- 
ment before hatching of large, strong legs and feet, so the young are 
really never nestlings in the ordinary sense of the word, for they are 
prepared from birth to follow their parents abroad, not by flight but 
by running. They differ in this respect from the altricial birds, which 
do not leave their home until their wings are strong enough to support 
them in flight. The solicitude of the parents for their young is very 
marked. Wilson says : “Nothing can exceed the alarm and anxiety of 
these birds during the breeding season. Their cries as they winnow the 
they fly or run to attack him with their harassing clamor, continuing 
it over so wide an extent of ground that they puzzle the pursuer as to 
the particular spot where the nest or young are concealed.” 
Audubon’s description of the Killdeer’s habits at this time is so 
quaint that it will be interesting to quote it also : 
“At this period, or during incubation, the parents, who sit alternately 
on the eggs, never leaving them to the heat of the sun, are extremely 
clamorous at sight of an enemy. The female droops her wings, emits 
her plaintive notes, and endeavors by every means she can devise to 
draw you from the nest or young. The male dashes over you in the air 
in the manner of the European Lapwing, and vociferates all the re- 
monstrances of an angry parent whose family is endangered. If you 
you to be, it will be quite unnecessary for me to recommend mercy.” 
If you should discover a nest of the Killdeer carefully note the exact 
where spot it is situated. If it contains only three eggs, that fact will 
indicate that the clutch is not yet complete, and a very brief visit, after 
an interval of a day or two, should be made. If four eggs are then found, 
it will show that incubation has begun. Visits at infrequent intervals 
ground in some upland meadow or cornfield in which 
it deposits its eggs. Alexander Wilson, however, 
records an interesting nest that he found “paved 
On the 
Defensive 
air overhead, dive and course about you, or run along 
the ground counterfeiting lameness, are shrill and 
incessant. The moment they see a person approach, 
Audubon 
Quoted 
cannot find pity for the poor birds at such a time, 
you may take up their eggs and see their distress ; 
but if you be at all so tender-hearted as I would wish 
