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Charadrius vociferus (Linnaeus)

The killdeer, an obviously unsuitable bird as a host for the brown-headed cowbird, has figured hitherto in the host catalog of that parasite solely on the basis of its inclusion in a list of cowbird victims compiled by Oberholser prior to 1920. When he was asked about it in 1921 he could not recall the source or the locality of the record, but he considered it to be valid and that it pertained to the nominate race of the cowbird.

Recently Harold Mossop (1963) reported a cowbird's egg with 4 eggs of the killdeer in a nest of the latter in Manitoba. On geographic grounds this must involve the northwestern race of the cowbird, M. ater artemisiae, for which it is a “first.” The fact that there is now a second “record” (both without detailed data) does not alter the status of the killdeer as a cowbird “host.” It is to be looked upon as a purely accidental involvement.

SPOTTED SANDPIPER