246 CONTOPUS VIRENS, WOOD PEWEE. 



duras).— Allex, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 179 (Kansas).— COUES, Key, 1872, 173, 



fig. li:^'^.— B. B. & R., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 357, pi. 44, i\^. 3. 

 Pyroceplialus (Contopits) virens, Gray, Hand-list, i, 1869, 361, No. 5506. 

 Muscicapa querula, Vieill., Ois. Am. Sept. 1, 1807, 68, pi. 39 {nee Wils.). 

 Muscicapa rapax, WiLS., Am. Orn. li, 181, 81, pi. 13, f. 5. 



Hah. — Eastern United States and British Provinces. Not much west of the Missis- 

 sippi ; only to borders of central plains. South to New Granada. Mexico. Breeds 

 throughout its United States range. Said by Audubon to winter in Louisiana and 

 Florida; observation unchecked by later accounts. Winters in Mexico and Central 

 America to New Granada. A late migrant in the spring ; entering the United States 

 in March, and reaching the middle districts usually about the end of the next month. 

 Extremely abundant, in wood-land, in most localities. 



I am indebted to Mr. Gentry for the following notes: "This species 

 usually makes its appearance in the eastern part of Pennsylvania in the 

 latter part of April, and commences building about the middle of May. 

 It prefers the loneliness of the forest generally, to the busy haunts of 

 man. It is described by writers as being more retired in its habits than 

 its cousins, as well as more suspicious. In my early ornithological per- 

 egrinations, I had always encountered it far from the scenes of active 

 life, its nest being found in the recesses of dense forests, saddled upon 

 the horizontal limb of some gigantic, high-towering oak. Last spring 

 I was surprised to meet with several within a few yards of occupied 

 dwellings, in the midst of a rather thickly settled portion of our town. 

 These nests were fixed upon the horizontal branches of apple-trees, at 

 elevations less than ten feet from the ground. The trees had been often 

 visited by several of my pupils, who had even whiled their leisure mo- 

 ments away underneath their sheltering boughs, while the mother-birds 

 sat within their cozy nests overhead, apparently in the enjoyment of 

 calm satisfaction and perfect security. 



" It is true that birds originally conceive very unfavorable opinions 

 of man, and seek safety and immunity from his presence in intermina- 

 ble forests and impenetrable undergrowth, under the fancied belief that 

 he is their inveterate foe; bat through the habit of association, or acci- 

 dental intrusion into his presence, they have learned more of his nature, 

 particularly in these latter times when the law is their protection, and 

 from holding him aloof as a being to be hated, they begin to see his 

 good qualities, and draw near to his dwellings and render to him mani- 

 fbld services. 



"Nuttall's descrijition of the nest of this species, which has the credit 

 of being the best that is recorded, may have been a fiiithful portraiture 

 thereof in his day, and no doubt will be found to hold good in various 

 sections, as it does in New England, according to the authority of Sam- 

 uels ; but in this section of the country it is somewhat different, and 

 needs remodeling. Instead of being ' universally saddled ui)on an old 

 moss grown and decayed limb,' I have frequently seen it resting between 

 the forked twigs of an oak, and one that was in a perfectly living coo- 

 ditiou. 'The body of the fabric' occasionally consists of 'wiry grass or 

 root-fibres,' but 1 have never detected the "small branching lichens held 

 together with cobwebs and caterpillars' silk, moistened with saliva.' In 

 a nest which I have before me, which can be taken as a type, the bulk 

 of it is made up entirely of small strips of liber plucked from trees and 

 fence-rails, tow, and wool, arranged in a circular manner, and pressed 

 compactly together by the body of the bird. One of the most promi- 

 nent features of the nest is its external coating of bluish-gray crusta- 

 ceous lichens, of the kind that are found u])on the trunks of trees, which 

 give it a very close resemblance to that of the Hummingbird, which it 

 nearly rivals in symmetry and beauty. 



" When the nests are saddled upon the limb there is much saving of 



