Some Utah Birds. III. The Killdeer

SOME UTAH BIRDS. BY CLAUDE T. BARNES, M. S. P. R., MEMBER NATIONAL ASSOCI- ATION AUDUBON SOCIETY. III.— THE KILLDEER. {Aegialitis Charadriidae Vocifera.) The muddy embankment of a pond, the half dried up slough in the roadside, the salty sump at the lake shore — these are the homes of the stately little plover, the killdeer. Most people have heard its plaintive and persistent cry, "killdeer," "killdeer;" but to avoid any mistake on the part of those who ramble in the coun- try just often enough to become acquainted with the birds only in a general way, a description of one, which I have in my collection, will be given. The killdeer is one of our handsomest birds. Its length is nine inches; wing-measured — from bend to tip 6.25; tail, 3.75 and bill, .75. The predominating color, above, is a muddy brown; in- deed, when the bird is walking about, it is most difficult, even in mid-day, to discover its whereabouts. Often the quick run of its grayish legs attracts the eye; but, in any case, the continual call, "killdeer," "killdeer," "dee," "dee," is easier to follow than is the bird itself. The back, tertials (the large inner quills of the wing), scapu- lars (the small feathers filling the space between the wing and the body) and the lesser wing coverts (the little feathers covering the bend of the wing), are all muddy brown; the greater wing coverts, the tips of the primaries (the longest wing quills) and the points of the secondaries (middle wing quill) are also brown, though of a slightly darker shade. Across the middle of the spreaded wing is

774 IMPROVEMENT ERA. a band of pure white, broadest at the point where the primaries and secondaries meet The wings are extremely long and pointed, extending at the tips, to a point within half an inch of the end of the tail. The three inner secondary wing quills are very long, the middle one being within a quarter of an inch as long as the largest primary. This peculiarity gives the half closed wing, when seen from be- hind, the shape of a capital A. There is a little patch of white on the bend of the wing. The rump and upper tail coverts are of a bright ochraceous cast; the tail feathers (rectrices) are ash color darkening into blackish brown at the extremities. When the tail is spread, how- ever, the two outer feathers are seen to be white crossed with four distinct bars of brown. The next feather inward, has an ochra- ceous hue with two faint bars of light [brown and a heavy black cross near the extremity. Underneath, there is one central tail feather, which is pure white faintly marked with two ashy spots. Extending around the killdeer's neck is a pure white collar about half an inch wide at the scruff, or back of the neck, and an inch wide at the throat. Just behind and above each eye, is a narrow white stripe; and a band of white, an eighth of an inch wide, runs from one eye around the forehead to the other. The top of the head, the lores and the opthalmic region are muddy brown like the back. The eyebrows are wax red; and the bill has the bulb tip characteristic of plovers. Seen from below, the bird is, in general, pure white, the tips of thewing quills, however, being ashy, and the tips of the tail feathers, brown. Across the jugulum extends a half inch band of blackish brown color, threaded with white. Above this, and of the same width, is. a band of white, and above that, on the throat, is a black collar three-fourths of an inch wide. The under surface of the outer tail feathers, and the central tail feathers, are spotted with ashy brown. The killdeer is found all over the United States, though in winter, it migrates to Mexico and the Gulf States. Its habits are unique. When undisturbed, it carries its trim littlebody about with a walk as stately as that of a peacock, though when af righted or filled with anxiety for its nest, it circles

SOME UTAH BIRDS. llh and dashes about with a swiftness surprising, and cries of anguish unequalled for penetrating solicitude. Its appearance in flight is deceptive, as its long wings and striking coloration lead one to be- lieve it to be a much larger bird than it really is. I remember, once last summer, as I was crossing a marshy field near the Salt Lake shore, a killdeer sprang up and swiftly flew about me within The Killdeer. a radius of two hundred yards, all the time uttering its plaintive cry; but at no time did it go so far away that I could not have recognized it both by its flight and its call So clever is the killdeer in protecting his nest, and so incon- spicuous is the nest itself, that one may walk about for hours over a whole field, thinking from the incessant clamor that the nest

776 IMPRO VEMENT ERA must always be near. In fact there is little in the actions of the bird to enable one to tell whether the nest is away only three feet or more than an eighth of a mile. As seen from the illustration herewith, the killdeer's nest is so inconspicuously made that one would be liable to walk over it without discerning the prize.The bird selects merely a slight de- and deposits four pyri- pression near its favorite feeding ground, — form eggs, which, from their coloration creamy white thickly — spotted with chocolate brown match the surrounding pebbles and A Killdeer's Nest. bits, and render the nest more indiscernible still. Nest-making is to the killdeer a mere matter of selection. He must smile at himself, therefore, as he looks up into the willows, and sees the red- winged blackbird working at a neat little cup, or when he cir- cles beyond the field and sees, below, a bullock's oriole weaving with remarkable assiduity a nest which hangs from the tip of a small locust limb. Why such work, when eggs hatch as well on the bare ground? In fact, the killdeer seldom takes the trouble to line the

SOME UTAH BIRDS. 777 chosen depression with soft materials,though Wilson says that he saw one nest "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 large size of the killdeer's eggs (1.50x1.10 inches) allows the young bird's legs to become comparatively strong before hatch- ing, and, therefore, unlike the altricial birds, which must wait for their wings to grow before they venture from the nest, the young killdeer follows its mother about from the hour that it breaks through the shell. Audubon says: ''During incubation, the parents, who sit alternately on the eggs, never leaving them to the heat of the sun, are extremely clamorous 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." There are few people who do not appreciate the economic value of the killdeer. He spends his life on the mud and in the air, and though classed as a "game" bird, his tiny body is really too insignificant to be shot for food. He eats many grasshoppers, ants, caterpillars, moths, boll weevils, wireworms,curculios, beetles, crane flies, worms, crickets, and coloptera. Being partially noc- turnal in his habits, he catches many bugs ordinarily undisturbed by the birds. In Utah, farmers are bothered to a great extent by the Rocky Mountain locust; and when we consider that this insect and boll weevils are destroying, millions of dollars' worth of crops each year, we can readily place the killdeer down as one of the agriculturist's greatest friends. Arthur H. Howell, the government expert, says: "The killdeer frequents plowed fields, often in large numbers, and the destruction of weevils, at the period of spring plowing, is a highly important service." In Utah, seldom are more than three or four killdeers seen to- gether; but their presence is gratifying especially in view of the fact that their favorite home is frequently the half-dried mud of the sloughs that break the monotony of some of our most desolate barrens. If there is a pond near your home, sit on the bank, follow

778 IMPRO VEMENT ERA . with your eyes the delicate little runs of our bird, learn to know his interesting personality and to catch the plaintive wildness of his penetrating call, ''killdeer, killdeer." Salt Lake City, Utah. THE CREATION AND GROWTH OF ADAM. BY WILLIAM HALLS. [In the excellent article, "The Philosophy of Faith and Worship," in the March number of the Era, page 325, the author, Elder William Halls, makes the following statement We would not expect to get a full grown tree, a hundred years old, in a second of time; neither would we expect a full grown man without a natural growth from infancy. Though the creation of Adam and the birth of Jesus may be involved in more or less mystery, the fact is, there was no exception in their cases. If Adam could have been created a full grown man with all his faculties fully developed, with a knowledge of good and evil, becoming as the Gods, without having gone through the natural stages of development then all men might have , been created in the same way, and there would have been no need of male and female, the pains of maternity, the care of infancy, our schools and all our insti- tutions of learning. A correspondent has taken exception to this theory respecting the creation and growth of Adam, as being iin-Biblical, concerning which, of course, there can be no dispute. However, Elder Halls was asked to give his reasons for his views, and he replies as follows. Editors.] In answer to your request to give some authority for my theory in regard to Adam, I must confess that I know no direct scriptural authority for it, though ^here are many passages of scripture from which such theory may be inferred. It is just my belief, unsupported by direct authority, and as such must be understood. When a passage of scripture taken literally contradicts a fundamental, natural law, I take it as allegorical; and in the absence of divine authority, put a construc- tion on it that seems to harmonize with my experience and reason. To believe all the scriptures literally we must believe that Satan is a serpent, Jesus is a lamb, Herod is a fox, mankind are wheat and tares, then sheep and goats, some are wolves, some vipers. To accept some parts of the Bible as allegory doesn't im- pair its authenticity; of such are the parables of the New Testament. To believe that the prodigal son, the widow and the unjust judge, are real characters would be childish. Some truths are not susceptible of proof. We say space is bound- less, duration is without beginning or end; the attempt to prove it would be ridiculous. To say that Adam could receive a knowledge of go*d and evil, and his phys- ical, mental and spiritual powers be developed without experience, is to me the climax of absurdity. That he passed through all the stages of development, and learned by the universal law of experience, may not be proved, but may be taken for granted. Mancos, Colorado.