Page:Bird-lore Vol 08.djvu/271

 The Killdeer 221 the ground in which to place their four pyriform eggs of a delicate creamy white tint thickly spotted or lined with chocolate-brown. Like the eggs of all Plovers, their size is out of all proportion to the size of the bird. The Killdeer does not waste any time in building a nest, and only in rare instances does it take the trouble to line the cavity in which it deposits its eggs. Alexander Wilson, however, records an interesting nest which he found " paved with fragments of clam and oyster shells, and very neatly surrounded with a mound or border of the same, placed in a very close and curious manner." The young Killdeers have little use for a nest, after they are born, for the large size of the eggs ( 1 . 50 X 1.10 inches) permits the development of large, strong legs and feet, so the young are really never nestlings in the ordinary sense of the word, for they are prepared from birth to follow their parents abroad, not by flight but by running. They differ in this respect from the altricial birds, which do not leave their home until their wings are strong enough to support them in flight. The solicitude of the parents for their young is very marked. Wilson says: "Nothing can exceed the alarm and anxiety of these birds during the breeding season. Their cries as they winnow the air overhead, dive and course about you, or run along the ground counterfeiting lameness, are shrill and incessant. The moment they see a person approach, they fly or run to attack him with their harassing clamour, continuing it over so wide an extent of ground that they puzzle the pursuer as to the particular spot where the nest or young are concealed." Audubon's description of the Killdeer's habits at this time are so quaint that they are quoted also: "At this-period, or during incubation, the parents, who sit alternately on the eggs, never leaving them to the heat of the sun, are extremely clamourous at sight of an enemy. The female droops her wings, emits her plaintive notes, and endeavors by every means she can devise to draw you from the nest or young. The male dashes over you in the air, in the manner of the European Lapwing, and vociferates all the remonstrances of an angry parent whose family is endangered. If you cannot find pity for the poor birds at such a time, you may take up their eggs and see their distress; but if you be at all so tender-hearted as I would wish you to be, it will be quite unnecessary for me to recommend mercy." This is good advice, that I hope will be followed by every boy and girl who reads this leaflet, — in fact by every person. If you should discover a nest of the Killdeer, carefully note the exact spot where it is located. If it contains only three eggs, it will indicate that the clutch is not vet complete and a very brief visit, after an interval of a day or two, should be made. If four eggs are then found, it will show that incubation has commenced. Visits at infrequent intervals should then be made to ascertain the time that elapses before the young birds are hatched.