PLOVERS, ETC.: KILLDEER 
251 
brown; naked eye ring red; bill black; legs and feet variable, flesh color, yellowish, or 
clay color. Young injuvenal plumage: Like adults but duller, black bands narrower, 
feathers of upperparts margined with rusty or buffy. 
Range. —Breeds from northwestern British Columbia, southern Mackenzie, 
northern Manitoba, central Quebec, and Labrador (two records) south to Gulf coast, 
central Mexico, and southern Lower California; winters from British Columbia, 
Colorado, Missouri, Indiana, and New Jersey south to Venezuela, Ecuador, and 
Peru. 
State Records. —One of the commonest and best known of the shore-birds, the 
Killdeer breeds throughout the whole of the lower parts of the State and even high 
up in the mountains: Carlsbad, 3,000 feet, 1899 (Bailey); Mesilla, 3,800 feet (Merrill); 
Hatchet Ranch, 5,000 feet, 1908 (Goldman); Silver City, 6,000 feet, 1894 (Fisher); 
Koehler Junction, about 6,000 feet (Kaimbach); Powderhorn Canyon on the Mim- 
bres, 6,500 feet, 1906 (Bailey); Fort Wingate, 7,000 feet, 1905 (Hollister); Chloride, 
7,500 feet, 1S90 (Blinn); [at least to 7,500 feet in northern Santa Fe County (Jensen, 
1923)1; and Agua Fria Spring, 8,000 feet, 1905 (Hollister). [At Raton, June 25-28, 
1916, four pairs were breeding on 160 acres (Howarth). Very young birds were 
found on the East Gila River, at 6,200 feet, April 23, 1916, and on high open pine 
country at 8,500 feet, near Mount Taylor a nest, was found June 22,1916, containing 
three fresh eggs (Ligon). At Lake Burford, May-June, 1918, two pairs nested 
^Wetmore); in the Pecos Valley June 16-21, 1918, at nearly every well with a dirt 
*■ tank one or more pairs were nesting; along the Pecos River they were present in 
numbers, and apparently most of them bred, young of various sizes being seen; 
and at the Rio Grande Gun Club Lake, southwest of Albuquerque they were com¬ 
mon, with young, June 16, 1919. Young were seen, May 9, 1920, at San Simon, 
Hidalgo County, and the birds were common from Silver City to the Mexican 
line, as they were from Carlsbad to Cimarron May 27-June 22, 1924]. Eggs have 
been taken in the Animas Valley, June 1, 1892 (Mearns), and at San Mateo, July 6, 
1873 (Henshaw), while young had just hatched May 8, 1913, at Palomas Springs. 
Several were seen on the Mayberry Ranch, about 60 miles west of Magdalena, 
April 26, 1915 (Ligon). 
In migration the Killdeer seems to range considerably higher than its breeding 
grounds since it was seen on the summit of Costilla Pass, 10,100 feet in late Sep¬ 
tember, 1903 (Ilowell), and was found up to 11,000 feet in San Miguel County 
(Mitchell). In Union County, it was abundant at Clayton, October 22,1893 (Seton). 
There are comparatively few records of the Killdeer in New Mexico during the 
middle of winter, but one was observed on the Tularosa River, 7 miles southwest 
of Aragon, Socorro County, at 7,000 feet, December 14, 1914; a few were seen in a 
marsh in Apache Canyon, February 22, 1915 (Ligon); [some stay throughout the 
year at Albuquerque (Leopold, 1919)]; some also remain in the southern part of the 
State as they do in localities of similar climate both east and west of New Mexico. 
They are common during October and early November, and as late as December 
1, 1902, they were still common at Tularosa (Gaut). Quite a number remained 
through the winter of 1912-13 along the Alamosa and Gila Rivers in Socorro and 
Sierra Counties; they winter as far north as old Ojo Caliente, north of Monticello; 
and on December 22, 1915, perhaps 20 birds were seen in the canyon along Cuchillo 
Creek—generally two in a place (Ligon); and a few sometimes winter near Mesilla 
(Merrill). 
Spring migration begins so early that by the middle of March the species has 
already reached northern New Mexico: Fort Wingate March 10, 1885; Aqua de 
Lobo, Taos County, March 11, 1888 (Washburn); Halls Peak, March 16, 1895 
(Barber); and Las Vegas, March 22, 1902 (Atkins). At Chloride, they were noted 
