TYRA^■^'ID -E — THE FLYCATCHERS. 359 



like 7;ee-e. These notes are continued iiiitQ dark, and are also uttered 

 tluoughout the season. 



Mr. Nuttall states tliat this species at times displays a tyrannical disposi- 

 tion, and that it has been observed to chase a harmless Sparrow to the 

 ground, because it liappened to approach his station for collecting insects. 



According to Mr. Audubon, some of these birds spend the winter months 

 in the extreme Southern States, Louisiana and Florida, where they feed upon 

 berries as well as insects. 



In Massachusetts the Wood Pewee is a verj' abundant species, and may 

 usually be found in any open woods, or in an orchard of large spreading 

 trees. In the latter situation it frequently breeds. It usually selects a 

 lower dead limb of a tree, from ten to tliirty feet from the ground, and occa- 

 sionally, but more seldom, a living moss-grown branch. It always chooses 

 one that is covered with small lichens, and saddles its nest upon its upper 

 surface, so closely assimilated by its own external coating of lichens as not 

 to be distinguishable from a natural protuberance on the limb. This struc- 

 ture is extremely beautiful, rivalling even the artistic nests of the Humming- 

 Bii'd. It is cup-sliaped, and a perfect segment of a sphere in shape. Tlie 

 periphery of the nest is made of fine root fibres, small lichens, and bits of 

 cobwebs and other similar materials. The outer sides are entirely covered 

 with a beautiful coating of mosses and lichens, glued to the materials with 

 the saliva of the builder. Tlie eggs are usually four in number, measure 

 .78 of an incli in length and .55 in breadth. They are obtuse at one end 

 and tapering at the other, liave a ground of a rich cream-color, and are 

 marked about the larger end with a wreath of blended purple, lilac, and red- 

 bro\\Ti in large and confluent spots. They hatch about the middle of June, 

 leave the nest in July, and have but a single brood. 



A nest of this species, taken in Lynn by ^Ir. Welch, and built on the 

 dead branch of a forest tree, has a diameter of three and a height of one and 

 a half inches. The ca^^ty has a depth of one inch, and a diameter, at the 

 rim, of two and a half inches. The base is flattened by its position. Its 

 walls are strongly woven of fine dry stems, intermingled with vegetalde 

 down, covered externaUy with lichens, cemented to the exterior, apparently 

 by the secretions of the bird. The base is thinner, and made of softer 

 materials. 



During the winter months this species is present as a migrant in various 

 parts of Mexico, south to Guatemala. 



