360 
JEG1ALIT1S V0C1FERUS. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EG.GS. 
Eggs, placed on the ground in a depression of the soil on a little grass. They are from two to four in number, decided¬ 
ly pyriform in shape, greenish-brown in color, finely and plentifully dotted with very dark-brown and black. Dimensions 
from 1*10x1*40 to.l*12xl'50. 
HABITS. 
On the first day of December, 1870, as I was walking along the beach, near the bar¬ 
racks, at Key West, I observed a small flock of about half a dozen birds running in front 
of me, occasionally uttering a low, mellow whistle. I at once saw that they were some¬ 
thing new to me but, as they were extremely wild, it was some time before I could obtain 
a specimen, but at last I secured one by taking a long shot, made just as they were rising, 
when the rest flew away and I never saw them again. Thus the history of the Mountain 
Plover, for such the stragglers proved to be, in our section, is easily written, but judging 
from this instance and from published accounts, this Plover does not differ strikingly in 
habit from many of its allies. 
2EGIALITIS VOCIFERUS. 
Killdeer Plover. 
JEgialitis vociferus Baird, Birds N. A.; 1858, 692. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Plate XV. Young. 
Sp. Ch. Form, slender. Size, large. Bill, long and slender. Tail, long and rounded. Tertiaries, nearly reaching 
the tips of the elongated wings. Sternum, stout, outer marginal indentations, considerably deeper than inner. Tongue; 
not long, thin, and slender, horny at extreme tip which is pointed. Sexes, similar. 
Color. Adult. Above, greenish-brown. Rump, upper tail coverts, and base of tail, cinnamon-red; and outer pair of 
feathers of latter, white, banded with black, while the tips of all but central pair are tipped with white which is preced 
ed by a broad band of black. Wings, dark-brown, with lines on inner webs, elongated "spots on primaries, tips, and base 
of secondaries, white. Forehead and line through eye, white, above and below which is a band of black, passing back of 
eye. Bmeath, whiti, which extends in a cellar back of neck, above which, behind, is a band of reddish, and below is a 
broad ring of black which rapidly narrows behind, however; beneath this, after an interval, is a band of black on breast. 
Young. Similar to the adult, but every feather above is edged with reddish, while the throat and space between the 
black bands are tinged with it. 
Nestlings. Are covered above with a yellowish-ash down mixed with rufous. Beneath, white, tinged on the sides with 
rufous. The black bands on the head are much as in the adult but the lower one is continuous, uniting behind. There is, 
however, but one ring below, the continuous upper. Eyelids, red, iris, brown, bill, black, and feet yellow, in all stages. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Known from all other Plovers by'the the two black bands on the throat and breast, and cinnamon rump. Distribu¬ 
ted in summer throughout North America, not very common in New England. Winters in the South. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of specimens from North America. Length, 10*00; stretch, 20'25; wing, 6'50; tail, 4*00; bill, 
‘75; tarsus, 1*45. Longest specimen, 10‘50; greatest extent of wing, 21‘00; longest wing, 6 75; tail,.4*50; bill, *90; tarsus, 
1‘65. Shortest specimen, 950; smallest extent of wing, 19‘50; shortest wing, 6‘25; tail, 3*50; bill, ‘60; tarsus, 1*30. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Eggs, placed on the ground in a slight depression of the soil, on a little grass, etc.; four in number, abruptly pyriform 
in shape, creamy in color, spotted and lined with dark-brown and umber, but there are move spots than lines. Dimensions 
from l'OOx 1*35 to 1‘05x1‘50. 
HABITS. 
On a December evening, some years ago, I stepped from the deck of a steamer upon 
a wharf at Fernandiua in Florida, well-pleased to find the solid land beneath my feet once 
more, for the weather during the voyage, had been unusually stormy and I, among others, 
