The Killdeer 
more fruitless than the first. And such conduct on the Killdeer’s part 
is perfectly habitual. Speaking soberly, I believe the Shore-bird portraits 
in “The Birds of California ” might have been twice as numerous and 
much more excellent, if 
it had not been for the 
Pharisaical machina¬ 
tions of the Killdeer. Is 
it any wonder, then, that 
the author is “sore”? 
Dr. Grinnell, in the' 
“ Distributional List, 
characterizes the Kill¬ 
deer as an “abundant 
resident of suitable lo¬ 
calities throughout the 
State,” with some re¬ 
strictions as to range. 
Undoubtedly, the Kill¬ 
deer is an abundant 
resident of the State, in 
the sense that the species 
is always to be found 
within our borders, and 
there are many localities 
in which Killdeers are 
to be found the year 
around. But it is doubt¬ 
ful whether the individ¬ 
ual Killdeers are ever 
strictly resident, that is non-migratory. It is more probable that there is 
a total redistribution of individuals in winter, but that the fact is disguised 
to our attention by the quasi independence of each individual bird. 
There are no “migrating hosts” of these birds, but dwellers by the sea are 
familiar with the fact that Killdeers do gather en flock , and that under 
such circumstances they behave very much like other Shore-birds. I 
have seen flocks of fifty Killdeers bunch closely and wheel and turn in 
silence and disappear in perfect order; but on other occasions the cohesive 
force has proved insufficient. The flock impulse has broken down, and 
the impatient individuals have scattered in shrill alarm, and with every 
evidence of mutual disgust. It is, apparently, only the spell ol new and 
untried surroundings which induces even a brief awe on the Killdeer’s 
part. Thus, I have seen them near Santa Barbara in great scattered 
Redrawn by Allan Brooks from photo by the Author 
ENTICEMENT 
i 3°3 
