The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-10-01
THE FAMILIAR KILDEE.
Peculiarfties OF a Bird That Nearly
Everybody Has Seen.

Ernest McGafey, in Chicago Record.
The kildee. kildeer, or ring-necked plover.
has a wide range Of feeding grounds, and Is
a very familiar figure all along the Missis-
sippi valley during the entire year, He is a
very handsome bird when running about the
pastures or flying over the marshes, but
when in captivity or mounted and set in a
glass case he loses the brightness OF his
coloring. This is true of all birds. but none
Of them more markedly so than the ring
neck. The white feathers in the birds wild
state seem TO be newly painted with the
milkiest of tints. and these lose their gloss
almost Immediately after the bird is killed
or put in an aviary. The kildee's wings are
long, measuring sometimes twenty-one
inches. and his flight is rapid. erratic and
subject to sharp curves and dartings. He is
about a foot or a little less in length, and
weighs four or five ounces.
His coloring is v~ariegated and extremely
picturesque. The breast is a milky white,
and around his neck are two narrow black
rings, or collars. from which comes his
name of "ring-necked' or ring plover. The
eyes and the bill are both black. On his
back the bird is varied in color, brown and
olive intermingling, and down about the
rump the feathers have an orange tinting.
The tail feathers are black, white and or
ange. The eyes are very bright and pierre
ing, and the pose Of the bird betokens con-
fdence and assertion. He is not ordinarily
afraid of men, except when he has been
shot at frequently, and will allow any one
to approach within gunshot of him very
readily where he has not been molested.
His method of locomotion is a rapid run.
seeming to skim over the ground, and, in
deed, the kildee is always a graceful bird,
whether on land or when on the wing.
One of its peculiar characteristics is its
restlessness. Where other plover stand in
the short grasses or at the edge of a pond
or river in silence, or quietly feed in their
favorite spots along the marshes. the kildee
is ever on the alert and is always in a place
where he can readily see what is going on
about him. He will run about in a small
space of ground here and there, and often
when there is nothing to disturb him he will
take wing to some other pasture or pond
and dart down TO investigate another bit OF
scenery. 1 never remember seeing a flock of
them in absolute repose excepting once in
the Michigan woods, at the edge of a lake
in the pine woods. The guide pointed over
the stump-covered space between us and
the water with a careless gesture, and said
"kildees,' We were waiting for the buck
board, which was toiling behind in the sand.
/ looked at the birds for a long time, and
they were as motionless as the gray rocks
along the shore.
Sure they're kildees?' / said to the guide.
Sure" he responded. l fired at them with
my revolver and the bullet struck in the
a at their feet. Instantly they rose and
scattered, separating. and the shrill, quer-
ulous cries of "kildee. kildee," came pierre
ing through the air from a dozen different
directions. There were probably twenty
birds in the fock-a large one.and they
went away over the hills complaining to the
last at the rude breaking up of their mid
day reverie. AS a rule such a gathering of
these birds would be running up and down
fha chnro nCinno11V Giving mt q their
sharp, two-syllable note, and manifesting
in every way their uneasy disposition.
w Tef Rq IN the iig aprin them in the MARSHES
where the jacksnipe are lying at the edges
of the wide expanses of cane, grass, bog
and meadow, or along the banks of ponds
in the pastures, or on the plowed ground
of the drier fields. here, there and every
where the vociferous and peripatetic ring
neck will be found, and when flushed from
the ground he takes wing. with. a cry tina
is almost a scream. of 'kildee, kildee,' and
even when beyond any danger his call will
Dee 1t is one of the individual sounds in
nature. None Of the other plovers ever give
out a call which has the slightest similarity
to it. The upland plovers sweet and long
~drawn-out ripping whistle, the greater yell
low-legs' fute-like note, the sharp, "tweet,
tweet" of the golden plover or the sand
plover have no such peculiarly human
like accent as is sometimes detected in the
'ring-necks" startled cry OF "kildee, Kill
dee.'
Along the rivers in the Mississippi valley
and in the North these birds congregate
during the summer months and run along
the shore seeking food. They keep to the
valleys of the rivers and along the pas
ture lands near by. Usually they frequent
the places where there is water to be had,
but in the pastures and in plowed fields
they are also found in the spring and fall.
They are hunted along with the other plov-
er and shot by the sportsmen during the
season for snipe shooting. AS a table bird
the ring-neck is inferior, his flesh being
dry and not particularly tender. But when
- = -.a-an hn nil 1n fnr tho frUinU
pan, and if plenty Of butter is used he
will stay the cravings o. an empty stomach.
Kildees build their nests on the ground In
the sparse grass. or among broken rock,
where the grass is scattered about. The she
bird lays four eggs, light eolored and
spring one of the first of the birds to reach
the middle West and Northern marshes is
the kildee. When the geese have gone
az still flying about the prairies and sub
merged bottom lands the ''ring-neck." usual
ly a lone one. will be found at some. small
South. and the sandplover, the yellow-legs
and the golden plover have not arrived. But
the ''ring-neck," with his rowing ways and
the birds to spread his wings to the chill
winds of late February and March and drop
down in the Northern pastures.
They are tenacious Of life, and much hard
er to kill thai a snipe or ordinary plover.
Not hard to hit on the wing, and yet not
In fn0P eoms States St tes t they ar are one Gig gfatn o with th0s a
mention in the game laws. but generally
speaking they are not specially referred to.
Their flight is strong, and often high, and
Is a succession of wavy beats, turning here
and there as the bird directs its course.
Like the ''tip-up." or fitting sand-piper.
the kildee has a habit OF bobbing up and
down in q kind of involuntary courtesy.
especially if anyone is watching him and
he is a trifie suspicious of the spectator. He
will follow the plows In the fields during
the springtime and pick up worms and grubs
as the pillow throws them out of the burrows.
He eats enough to max him as plump as a
quail, but his st. Vitus-dance nervousness
keeps him in race-horse condition. The
darkies down South believe that the kildee
is a witch bird" and some of them never
shoot one for fear the spirit of the dead bird
might come back and 'hant'' them.
No other of the water birds is as varied a
traveller as the kildee. The snipe swing into
a good feeding place and stay there until
the weather or the hunters drive them out.
The plover, other than the kildee. are ioath
to leave a locality where feed is plentiful
and there are few hunters to modest them.
But the kildee, his nature ever on the alert
for change, Is up and away from the most
comfortable of surroundings at a minutes
notice, eager to seek fields and pastures
new.
BY the long stretches of river shores where
the little green herons fly up and down and
the kingfishers sit in state on the dead
branches of lightning-riven trees: in the pas
lures where the golden-breasted meadow
larks take wing and the prairie chickens
boom" from the grasses: in the plowed
fields. following the straining horses. while
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