250 NOTES ON THE 



CONTOPUS YIRENS (L.). (461.) 



WOOD PEWEE. 



The Wood Pewee is a very common summer resident of all 

 the wooded districts of the State, reaching the southern por- 

 tions about the 10th of May, and a latitude of Minneapolis not 

 far from the twentieth. Mating and nest building have gener- 

 ally taken place by the fifth of June in this immediate locality, 



In a series of nests which I have taken, extending through 

 many years, over nine-tenths have been found saddled upon an 

 old, moss grown and decayed limb as originally described by 

 Nuttall, the exception being in the forked twigs as mentioned 

 by Gentry in his correspondence with Coues and found in his 

 Birds of the Northwest, page 246. Of some 10 or 12 in my 

 possession there is not a single one that is not well described 

 by the former in the following words which I quote: "In a 

 nest which I have before me, which can be taken as a type, 

 the bulk of it is made up entirely of small stripes of liber 

 plucked from the trees and fence rails, tow and wool, arranged 

 in a circular manner, and pressed compactly together by the 

 body of the bird. One of the most prominent features of the 

 nest is its external coating of bluish-gray crustaceous lichens, 

 of the kind that are found upon the trunks of the trees, which 

 give it a very close resemblance to that of the humming bird, 

 which it nearly rivals in symmetry and beauty." 



It is almost uniformly placed on poplars in this locality, and 

 elevated about twenty feet from the ground. 



It is lined with finer samples of the same material as enters 

 into the main structure. They usually have four eggs, of a 

 beautiful cream color, with blotches and spots of lilac and 

 brown around the larger end. I have never seen more than 

 one brood in a season. Its resemblance in all respects to the 

 Phoebe is a little remarkable. Notably it prefers the deep, 

 dark woods, but I have often found it quite near dwellings, in 

 clusters of poplars, as in a dooryard of a farmhouse near Min- 

 nehaha Falls, where I have observed it for upwards of twenty 

 years. The note differs from that of the Phoebe considerably, 

 being much more sad or plaintive. 



Mr. Washburn, in his notes sent me from the Red river 

 valley, says: ''Extremely common in the woodland every- 

 where. One cannot walk a dozen rods in the timber without 

 seeing several pairs. An interesting chapter might be written 

 on the habits of this bird. 



