Page:Bird-lore Vol 08.djvu/268

 THE KILLDEER By WILLIAM DUTCHER jftational $L&$otiation ot Audubon feocietteg EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 23 This Plover, which derives its name from its oft-repeated note of kildee, fcildee, dee, dee, dee, should be a familiar bird to all people who wisely seek their health and pleasure out-of-doors with wide-open eyes. It is found over the whole of temperate North America, and it breeds throughout its en- tire range. In the winter months it is found from the parallel of the Gulf States to northern South America and in the West Indies, although the writer has found them on Long Island, New York, in every month of the year but January. It is impossible to overlook the Killdeer by reason of its beauty of color- ing, its trim appearance, its stately walk when undisturbed, its rapid and graceful flight when startled. Every bird has its characteristic motion while in the air, and the student who is a close observer soon learns to know many birds from their appearance while in flight when their color is indistinguishable and their notes but faintly heard. The writer has many bird pictures impressed upon his mind that never can be effaced while time lasts for him, and standing out among them in refreshing relief is a memory of a smooth -flowing river gently winding its way from the hills through grassy meadows toward the sea, in which it would soon be lost. It was in early autumn, when Nature exhibits her choicest colors and the birds are flocking for their leisurely journey to the distant southland, that a company of Killdeers were running about in one of the brown fields for a fare of succulent grasshoppers or crickets, all the while chatting with each other in colloquial tones. A human intruder appeared, and the startled birds arose from the ground in flight but were reluctant to leave such rich foraging grounds. They massed in solid ranks and whirled through the air, now high in graceful evolutions, then downward with lightning rapidity, sweeping across the field; breaking ranks and flying like leaves before a gale, only to mass again for some new and intricate movement, which, if possible, was more perfect than the first. Let us change the picture to the vernal season, and observe the Killdeer after it has returned to its breeding home, a field which man may use for growing his sugar, cotton, rice and corn or any of the other products so necessary for his happiness, and even for his very existence. Then we see i:he birds happily mated and employed in selecting a suitable depression in (220)