FLYCATCHERS 75 



ears and inspired many a tribute in prose and 

 verse. Mr. Matthews says of it: "It is to be 

 classed along with Stephen Foster's *01d Folks 

 at Home,' or the famous Irish melody, *The 

 Last Rose of Summer.'" 



This sweet singer is the plainest of birds in 

 dress. The male is dark olive-brown with a 

 darker shade on the head and tail and there are 

 two faint wing bars of white. The white under 

 parts are washed with olive-gray on the throat 

 and breast. The dress of the female is similar, 

 but the under parts are tinged with yellow. 



Like other members of the family, the Wood 

 Pewee is an excellent builder. Sometimes the 

 colors of the nest blend so perfectly with the 

 moss and lichens of the tree in which it is placed 

 as to render it practically invisible. One summer 

 I moored my boat many times directly under a 

 Wood Pewee's nest so skillfully hidden in a 

 hollow of an old yellow birch that I did not 

 discover it until the young had flown and the 

 autumn winds were tearing it to pieces; and it 

 was not more than two feet above my head. 

 It was rather a shallow nest, built of fine grass, 

 moss and rootlets, skillfully covered with pale 

 green lichens the exact color of the bark of the 

 old tree. The eggs are white with brown mark- 

 ings, some of them quite indistinct. 



This bird ranges in summer from Florida to 

 Newfoundland and winters in Central America. 

 They are among the last of the Flycatchers to 

 arrive, usually appearing about New York in 

 early May. They are six and one-half inches in 

 length and the wings are longer than the tail. 



