KILDEER PLOVER. 
365 
KILDEER PLOVER. — CLIARADRIUS VOCIFERUS. 
Plate LIX. Fig. 6. 
Aret. Zool. No. 400. — Catesby, i. 71. — Le Kildir, Huff. viii. 96. — Peak's 
Museum, No. 4174. 
CHARADRIUS VOC1FER US. — Linnaeus . * 
Charadrius vociferus, Bonap. Synop. North. Zool. ii. p. 368. 
This restless and noisy bird is known to almost every 
inhabitant of the United States, being a common and pretty 
constant resident. During the severity of winter, when snow 
covers the ground, it retreats to the sea shore, 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, tracing 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, inter- 
spersed 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 instance, I found the nest of this bird paved 
with fragments of clam and oyster shells, and very neatly sur- 
rounded with a mound, or border, of the same, placed in a 
very close and curious manner. In some cases there is no 
vestige whatever of a nest. The eggs are usually four, of a 
bright rich cream or yellowish clay colour, thickly marked 
with blotches of black. They are large for the size of the 
* An abundant and well known species, and peculiar to both continents of 
America, with some of the West Indian islands. According to the Northern 
Zoology , it arrives on the plains of the Saskatchewan about the 20tli of April, 
and, at that season, frequents the gardens and cultivated holds of the trading 
post with the utmost familiarity. — Ed. 
