July, 1V12 XOTKvS OX WADINCi BIRDS OF HARR LAKE RKDioX, COLORADO 
12V 
pnl)lishe(l breeding' records for the state except that of Cooke. Although there 
is small doubt that the bird breeds s])aringly on the plains east of Denver, it can 
hardly be called common anywhere in Colorado, h'or these rea.sons descri])tion 
of this nest may be of value. 
The nest which was found June 28, 1907, was located in the midst of a rather 
thick tuft of sand grass, blue stem, and other dry-land grasses, on open rolling- 
prairie well covered with grass, weeds, etc., and fully tw(j miles from any body 
of water. It was on the west side of a small knoll on rather high ground and 
was Iniilt in an inconspicuous spot. Xo evidence of it could be seen fifteen paces 
away. /'A 
d'he nest was a rather deep depression in the ground sparingly lined with 
fine weed stems, grasses and a few bits of manure and one or two small feathers. 
Fig. 55 . YOUNG KILLDEKRS .JUST Ot^T OK K(?G 
The to])s of the eggs were about finsh with the surface of the g'roimd. d'he egg's 
were not all arranged with the points turned in toward the center. When the nest 
was first found the bird finshed at a distance of about fifteen yards, and its cries 
as it rose in the air brought three other birds within a few minutes. .\t no time 
did the birds come anywhere near us, and as soon as we left the nest they flew' 
back to it from a point about a (piarter mile distant. On the second visit the 
liarent left the nest when we were fully thirty yards away, and flew ofif close to 
the ground with short rapid wing-lieats ( similar to the flight of a Spotted Sand- 
piper) and lit aliout a hundred yards away. W hile flying' it continuallv uttered a 
querulous musical whistle. .\ot long afterward, either this bird or the other 
parent flew up to a height of fully one hundred \'ards and circled about us two or 
