BIBBS OF KANSAS. 365 



upon the passing insects, and often repeat their plaintive "Pu-pu" 

 or "Pii-pip," the males occasionally uttering a loud, whistling 

 call note. 



Their nests are placed in the upper branches of trees; a flat, 

 loose structure, composed of twigs, strips of bark, rootlets, weeds, 

 etc., and lined with old grasses, fragments of moss and lichen. 

 Eggs three to five, (seldom five, usually three or four,) .82x.62; 

 deep cream or buff white, marked around the larger end with 

 purple gray and dull yellowish to reddish brown; in form, ovate. 



Contopus virens (Linx.). 



WOOD PEWEE. 

 PLATE XXIV. 



Summer resident; common in the eastern part of the State, 

 rare in the western. Arrive the last of April to middle of May; 

 begin laying the last of May; return in September; occasion- 

 ally linger into October. 



B. 139. R. 320. C. 382. G. 156, 175. U. 461. 



Habitat. Eastern North America; north to New Brunswick 



and Manitoba; west to the edge of the Great Plains; south in 



winter through eastern Mexico to Costa Kica. 



Sp. Char. "The second quill longest; the third a little shorter; the first 

 shorter than the fourth; the latter nearly .40 longer than the fifth. The prima- 

 ries more than an inch longer than the secondaries. The upper parts, sides of 

 the head, neck and breast dark olivaceous brown, the latter rather paler, the 

 head darker. A narrow white ring round the eye. The lower parts pale yel- 

 lowish, deepest on the abdomen; across the breast tinged with ash. This pale 

 ash sometimes occupies the whole of the breast, and even occasionally extends 

 up to the chin. It is also sometimes glossed with olivaceous. The wings and 

 tail dark brown; generally deeper than in S. phoehe. Two narrow bands across 

 the wing; the outer edge of first primary, and of the secondaries and tertials, 

 dull white. The edges of the tail feathers like the back; the outer one scarcely 

 lighter." 



. stretch of 

 Length. wing. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Bill. 



Male 6.40 10.20 3.35 2.80 .50 .50 



Female... 6.00 9.75 3.15 2.55 .50 .50 



Iris brown; bill, upper black, lower yellow, with tip brown; 

 legs, feet and claws black. 



These rather solitary birds inhabit the thick woods and groves, 

 preferring the bottom lands along the streams. They closely 



