WESTERN BIRDS I'ewee 



to build in some deciduous tree near canyon, or arroyo. 

 If there be houses near his chosen haunt, it matters not, 

 but if you would study his ways ordinarily, you must 

 hunt him up. 



These birds build beautiful little nests of fine ma- 

 terials which so blend with the branch on which they 

 rest that one is easily mistaken for a knot, rather than a 

 work of art. The nest of the western bird is deeper, 

 more cup-shaped than its eastern cousin, and is usually 

 placed on the top of a living limb (although I once found 

 one in an upright crotch), rather than on the horizontal 

 crotch of a dead limb as seems to be the favorite choice 

 of the eastern Pewee. 



One way in which our eastern and western birds differ 

 is in the call notes and songs. Several of our species 

 which are almost alike in plumage have quite different 

 voices. The Pewees are in this class. The note of the 

 eastern birds is sweet and clear, though somewhat plain- 

 tive. It is a sort of pee-a-wee, given in a deliberate 

 drawling way, over and over with little variation. Evi- 

 dently there is no hurry in life and yet, when you see 

 him dart out after an unsuspecting insect, his actions 

 belie his words. 



The call of the western bird is harsher and less plain- 

 tive, and even less distinctly does he call his name. 

 Peu-er, treer, he cries with monotonous regularity, which 

 in the early morning, and late evening, gives one an 

 almost creepy feeling. Olive Thorne Miller says of this 

 performance: "There is little charm in the music, for it 

 is in truth a dismal chant, with the air and cheerfulness 

 of a funeral dirge — a pessimistic performance that in- 

 spires the listener with a desire to choke him, then and 

 there." In the nesting season I have often heard the 

 birds give twittering, song-like notes that were not, how- 

 ever, much more musical than the usual call. 



At one time I watched the nesting habits of a pair 



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