ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF OUR BIRDS. 
593 
190. Charadrius D03UNICXJS (MOll). AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. 
Group I. Class c. 
The Golden Plover, like the last, is only a migrant in the state. It is to be 
seen in the fall during the last of September and the early part of October, fre¬ 
quenting pastures in flocks of twenty or thirty, where it searches diligently for 
insects. 
Food: Of three specimens examined, two had eaten five grasshoppers; two, - 
nine beetles; and two, three caterpillars. 
Small shell-fish and animalculse, in the spring; in the fall, grasshoppers, various 
insects and berries (Samuels). Grasshoppers (Coues). Insects (Forbes). 
191. .^GiALiTEs vociferus (Linn.), Gass. KILLDEER plover. Group I. 
Class b. 
So generally distributed throughout the state and so abundant is the Killdeer 
Plover, that even the Robin is scarcely better known than it. Unlike most of 
the waders, it is a summer resident with us, frequenting upland pastures, 
meadows and open fields, as well as the low flats adjoining bodies of water. I 
have known it to enter corn-fields infested with wire-worms, and to feed upon 
these pests. 
The food, habits and haunts of the Killdeer are such as to bind it closely in 
economic relation with that all too small band of birds which, like the Meadow 
Lark, frequent the open, cultivated fields. On account of this relationship, the 
Killdeer Plover should be stricken from the list of “ game birds,” and encour¬ 
aged to breed in greater abundance in cultivated fields and meadows. 
Of thirteen specimens examined, ten had eaten fifty-seven adult insects, and 
three, ten angle-worms; five had eaten twelve larvae, and in the stomach of one 
was found fifty-six grasshopper and cricket eggs. 
Four birds had eaten fifteen ants; two, three caterpillars; one, three moths; 
one, a crane-fiy; nine, twenty-eight beetles; one, a grasshopper; four, seven 
crickets. 
One bird had eaten three wire-worms; two, three leaf-beetles; two, four cur- 
culios f BrevirostresJ; one, a copris beetle. 
Worms and aquatic insects (Wilson). Earth-worms, grasshoppers, crickets, 
beetles, small Crustacea and snails (Audubon). 
Of six birds examined by Prof. Forbes, all had eaten insects; two, caterpillars; 
three, beetles; one, cray-fish; and two, vegetable miscellany. 
Of those eating beetles, one had eaten Histeridae; two, plant beetles; and two, 
curculios. 
193. AEgialites semipalmatus (Bp.), Cab. SEMIPALMATED RING 
PLOVER; RING-NECK. 
193. ..Egialites melodus (Ord.), Cab. PIPING RING PLOVER; RING- 
NECK. Group I. Class c 
Both the Semipalmated and Piping Ring Plovers are reported as occurring in 
the state during the migrations, but I have met with neither alive in Wisconsin, 
nor uEgialites melodus circumcinctus, which Mr. Nelson reports as breeding along 
the lake shore in Northeastern Illinois. 
VoL. 1 — 38 
