(_Aegialitis vocifera._)
Dr. Livingstone described a relative of this bird which he met with
in Africa as "a most plaguey sort of public-spirited individual that
follows you everywhere, flying overhead, and is most persevering in his
attempts to give fair warning to all animals within hearing to flee
from the approach of danger," a characteristic which has caused the
killdeer to be an object of dislike to the gunner. It is usually the
first to take alarm at his approach and starts up all other birds in
the vicinity by its loud cries. It can run with such swiftness that,
according to Audubon, to run "like a killdeer" has in some parts of the
country passed into a proverb. It is also active on the wing and mounts
at pleasure to a great height in the air, with a strong and rapid
flight, which can be continued for a long distance. In the love season
it performs various kinds of evolutions while on the wing.
This plover is found throughout temperate North America to Newfoundland
and Manitoba, nests throughout range, and winters south of New England
to Bermuda, the West Indies, Central and South America. From March to
November, and later, it is resident, and is very abundant in spring
and autumn migrations. These birds are generally seen in flocks when
on the wing, but scatter when feeding. Pastures and cultivated fields,
tracts of land near water, lakesides and marshes seem necessary to it.
The sound uttered by it, _kildeer_, _kildeer_, _dee_, _dee_, is almost
incessant, but it is often low and agreeable, with a plaintive strain
in it. When apparently in danger the voice rises higher and shriller.
Cows, horses, sheep, and the larger poultry that wander over a farm are
said not to alarm these birds in the least. But they are wild in the
presence of man wherever they have been persecuted. They will often
squat till one is close upon them, and will then suddenly fly up or
run off, startling the unwary intruder by their loud and clear cry. In
winter the killdeer is an unusually silent bird, in which season it is
found dispersed over the cultivated fields in Florida, Georgia, the
Carolinas, and other southern states, diligently searching for food.
Davie says that it may often be heard on moonlight nights. The nest
is placed on the ground, usually in the vicinity of a stream or pond,
often on an elevated spot in the grass or in a furrowed field. It is
merely a slight depression in the ground. The eggs are drab or clay
color, thickly spotted and blotched with blackish brown and umber,
small and quite pointed. They are generally four in number, measuring
1.50 to 1.60 long by about 1.10 broad.
The plovers resemble the snipe in structure, but are smaller, averaging
about the size of a thrush. Their bills also are shorter. They have
three toes usually; their bodies are plump; short, thick necks, long
wings, and in some instances they have spurs on the wings. They pick
their food, which is largely of an animal nature, from the surface of
the ground, instead of probing for it, as their shorter bills indicate.
The flesh of the killdeer is not highly regarded as a food.
[Illustration: KILLDEER.
2/3 Life-size.
FROM COL. F. KAEMPFER.
A.W.MUMFORD, PUBLISHER, CHICAGO.
COPYRIGHT 1900, BY
NATURE STUDY PUB. CO., CHICAGO.]