SPECIES 4 . CHJiRJiDRIUS VOCIFERUS. 
KILDEER PLOVER. 
[Plate LIX.— Fig. 6.] 
Jlrct. Zool. JVo. 400 . — Catesby, i, 71 . — Le Kildir, Buff, viii, 96. 
— Peale’s Museum, JYo. 4174.* 
This restless and noisy bird is known to almost every inha- 
bitant of the United States, being a common and pretty con- 
stant resident. During the severity of winter, when snow co- 
vers the ground, it retreats to the seashore, where it is found 
at all seasons; but no sooner have the rivers broke up, than its 
shrill note is again heard, either roaming about high in air, tra- 
cing 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, pebbles, or earth. In one in- 
stance, I found the nest of this bird paved 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 curi- 
ous manner. In some cases there is no vestige whatever of a 
nest. The eggs are usually four, of a bright rich cream, or yel- 
lowish clay colour, 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, tapering 
to a narrow point at the great end. 
* Charadriusvociferem, Gmel. Sysl, i, p. 685, JVo. 3. — Pluvier a collier de Vir- 
ginie, Briss. v, p. 68. — Lath. Ind. Orn.p. 742, JVb. 6. — PI. Enl. 286. 
