. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Killdeer. Taken in Merced County Photo by the Author ENTANGLEMENTS A JUVENAL KILLDEER HAVING TROUBLE WITH THE SCUM ture she was off instantly and began decoying at 30 to 40 feet. Again I tried "sleeping," and again she returned. But as long as I remained seated or rose to my knees she played off from 60 to 80 feet. Here then was the key to this bird's psychology. Her distance increased in direct proportion to my elevation from the gro
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Killdeer. Taken in Merced County Photo by the Author ENTANGLEMENTS A JUVENAL KILLDEER HAVING TROUBLE WITH THE SCUM ture she was off instantly and began decoying at 30 to 40 feet. Again I tried "sleeping," and again she returned. But as long as I remained seated or rose to my knees she played off from 60 to 80 feet. Here then was the key to this bird's psychology. Her distance increased in direct proportion to my elevation from the ground. If I assumed a supine position, partially buried in the grass, she almost entirely disregarded me. As I rose she pattered away, and if I stood she flew 150 feet. With this knowledge gained, I let my camera, the Graflex, sit upon the ground some 16 feet from the nest, dug a tunnel through the light grasses, then lay down beside the camera with a finger on the trigger. In this way I got three quite creditable snaps at the bird standing over or crouching upon her eggs. Here, too, it is worthy of remark that I had to lay my head flat on its side to completely lull the bird's suspicions; for as often as I reared it a little, she bridled also, or scampered off. It was an absurd and pathetic illus- tration of the old adage, Out of sight out of mind. But if Killdeers are anxious regarding the safety of their eggs, this anxiety is raised to the nth power when their young are to be considered. The din attendant upon the defense of those infant prodigies is quite inde- scribable. And the behavior of the parents on such occasions is worthy of a separate treatise. Mr. Raymond Driver tells me of one reaction which 1307. 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 Dawson, William Leon, 1873-1928; Dickey, Donald R.
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Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
