. The birds about us. Birds. 214 The Birds About Killdeer. The genuine, or literally " upland," plover is the familiar " ; It is migratory, but it makes a long stay with us in the Middle States. It some- times comes by the middle of February, and is said to be always fol- lowed by the snipe. Not always imme- diately followed, however. We first find the killdeer along the river, and if the ground, upland, is frozen, they will remain there; but very soon they come to their old haunts in the dry fields, and add a great deal of life to what is apt to be a rather c
. The birds about us. Birds. 214 The Birds About Killdeer. The genuine, or literally " upland," plover is the familiar " ; It is migratory, but it makes a long stay with us in the Middle States. It some- times comes by the middle of February, and is said to be always fol- lowed by the snipe. Not always imme- diately followed, however. We first find the killdeer along the river, and if the ground, upland, is frozen, they will remain there; but very soon they come to their old haunts in the dry fields, and add a great deal of life to what is apt to be a rather commonplace localit}'. They find in time a safe spot, as they think, to lay their eggs, and then are all anxiety for fear some one will step on them. If you come near they make a great ado and imitate lameness to perfection, but you cannot pick them up, for all that. Wilson says,— " Nothing can exceed tlie alarm and anxiety of these birds during the liieeding season. Their cries of killdeer, killdeer^ as they winnow the air overhead, dive and course around you, or run along the ground counterfeiting lameness, are shrill and incessant. The mo- ment they see a person approach they fly or run to attack him with their harassing clamor, 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, very much resembling in this re- spect the Lapwing of Europe. During the evening and long after. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Abbott, Charles C. (Charles Conrad), 1843-1919. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1895
