378 THE SAY PEWEE. 



No. 145. 



SAY'S PEWEE. 



A. O. U. No. 457. Sayornis saya (Boiiap.). 



Synonyms. — Say's Phoebe. ^^^ESTER^' Phoebe. 



Description. — Adults: General color drab (grayish brown to dark hair- 

 brown), darker on pileum and auriciilars, lighter on throat, .shading thru upper 

 tail-coverts to black; tail brownish black: wings fuscous, the coverts and exposed 

 webs of tertials edged with lighter grayish brown; underparts below breast 

 citniamon-buff ; axillars and lining of wings light buff or cream-buff. Bill and feet 

 black; iris brown. Voiiiig birds are more extensively fulvous, and are marked 

 by two ciiuiamomeous bands on wings ( formed by tips of middle and greater 

 coverts). Length of adult male 7.50 (190.5) ; wing 4.14 ( 105) ; tail 3.23 (82) ; 

 bill .62 ( 15.71 ; tarsus .70 (20). Female averages smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size; drab coloring; cinnamon-colored belly; 

 mclancliijh- notes; freijucuts barns and outbuildings or cliffs. 



Nesting. — Nest: composed of dried grasses, moss, plant-fibers, woolly ma- 

 terials of all sorts, and hair; placed on ledges, under eaves of outbuildings, under 

 bridges, or on cliffs. Eggs: 3-6, usually 5, dull white, occasionally sparsely dotted. 

 Av. size, .77 X .59 (19. 6x 15). Season: April 20-May 10, June 1-15; two broods. 

 Yakima County April 24, 1900, 5 young about five days old (eggs fresh about 

 April 7th ). 



General Range. — Western North America north to the Arctic Circle in 

 Alaska, Yukon Territory, etc., east to Manitoba, western Wyoming, western 

 Kansas, etc., breeding thruout range, south to Arizona and northern Lower 

 California; southward in winter over northern and central Me.xico. 



Range in Washington. — Common summer resident east of the Cascades 

 (chiefly in Upper Sonoran and Arid Transition life-zones), rare or casual west of 

 the mountains. 



Migrations. — Spring: c March 15; Okanogan Comity March 17, 1896; 

 Ahtanum (Yakima Co.) Feb. 20, 1900. 



Authorities.— Bendire, Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. H. 1895, p. 277. (T). 

 D'. Kb. D^ Ss'. Ss-'. J. B. 



Specimens. — P'. Prov. C. 



A GENTLE melancholy possesses the Pewee. The memory of that 

 older Eden once blotted by the ruthless ice-sheet, still haunts the chambers of 

 the atavistic soul and she goes mourning all her days. Or she is like a Peri 

 barred from Paradise, and no profYer of mortal joys can make amends for 

 the immortal loss ever before her eyes. Kutcew. kiitchv! 



In keeping with her ascetic nature the Pewee haunts solitary places, 

 bleak hillsides swept by March gales, lava clifYs with their solemn, silent 

 bastions. Or, since misery loves company, she ventures upon some waterless 



