458 BIRDS——CHARADRIIDE. 
Above quaker-brown with a greenish tinge, sometimes most of the feathers tipped and 
edged with orange-brown; rump and upper tail coverts orange-brown ; most of tail 
feathers white at base and tip, suffased with crange-brown in part of their length and 
with 1-3 black bars; secondaries mostly white, and primaries with a white space; a 
black bar across the crown and two black bands on the neck and breast; forehead and 
entire under parts except as stated white; bill black; feet pale; eyelids scarlet. 
Length, 9-10 inches; wing, 6 or more; tail, 34 much rounded; tarsus, about 14. 
Habitat, Temperate North America, West Indies. Central and South America in 
winter. Accidental in Europe. 
Abundant summer resident. Breeds. Arrives during the first week 
in March, usually, sometimes during the latter part of February, and re- 
mains until the last cf October or later. No sooner are the streams per- 
manently open, even before the fields are free from snow, than the 
characteristic note, from which it takes its name, is heard. Commonly 
single birds are first seen flying high, afterwards they appear in pairs and 
soon set about breeding. They frequent both high and low grounds, pas- 
tures, fallow fields and old brick yards, as well as borders of streams. The 
nest is placed on the ground, usually in the vicinity of a stream or pond, 
and often on a elevated spot; when it is approached by man or other sus- 
picious object, the birds manifest great alarm and anxiety, hovering over- 
head with shrill cries, or, if the danger is imminent, tumbling upon the 
ground, affecting all manner of injuries to draw the intruder away, as is 
the habit of many others of this order, as well as the Quail and Dove. 
After the breeding season is over, both young and old collect in 
flocks of from ten to fifty, and seek the muddy or gravelly shores of streams, 
where they feed, augmenting their numbers daily until they depart for 
the south. At this time the note, Kildeer, Kildeer, is less frequently 
heard, unless the flock has become scattered, but a lower alarm note, a 
rapid lé é é é é-t, is frequently sounded as they run stiffly but swiftly over 
the gravel and in the shallows. 
The eggs of the Kildeer are four in number, drab or clay-color rather 
thickly spotted and blotched with blackish-brown. The smaller end is 
quite pointed, as is commonly the case with birds of this order. They 
measure 1.50 by 1.12. 
/XGIALITIS SEMIPALMATA Bonaparte. 
Semipalmated Plover; Ringneck. 
Charadrius semipalmatus, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 168, 184. 
Aegialitis semipalmatus, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 368; Reprint, 1261, 10 
sEgialitis semipalmatus, WHEATON, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 572; Re-. 
print, 1875, 9—Lanepon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 14; Revised List, Journ. Cin. 
Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 184; Reprint, 164.—Dury and FREEMAN, ib., iii, 1680, 104; 
Reprint, 5, 
