420 FLYCATCHERS. 



often examines the courts and gardens, at the same time feed- 

 ing and training its young to the habits of their subsistence, 

 and about the first week in October it retires south to pass the 

 winter. 



The Pewee is a very expert and cautious flycatcher ; and as 

 if aware of the drowsiness of insects in the absence of the sun's 

 broad hght, he is on the alert at day-dawn after his prey. At 

 this early period, and often in the dusk of evening, for the most 

 part of summer till the middle of August, he serenades the 

 neighborhood of his mansion from 3 to 4 or 5 o'clock in the 

 morning, with an almost uninterrupted chanting ditty, sweet, 

 but monotonous, like pe-ay pay-wee, pe-ay pay-iuec, then in a 

 little higher and less sing-song tone, his usual and more serious 

 pce-d-wee. In dark and damp mornings this curious warble is 

 sometimes continued nearly to 8 o'clock ; and the effect of 

 this tender, lulling lay in the gray dawn, before the awakening 

 of other birds, and their mingling chorus, is singular and pecu- 

 liarly pleasing. It is a gratulatory feeling of unmixed and 

 placid delight, concomitant with the mild reviving light of the 

 opening day and the perfect joy of the mated male, satisfied in 

 every reasonable desire, — in short, a hymn of praise to the 

 benevolent Author and Supporter of existence ! 



Towards the period of departure they become wholly silent ; 

 and driven to extremity, they may now be seen watching the 

 stagnant pools and ponds, dipping occasionally into the still 

 surface after their drowsy and languid prey. Like the King- 

 bird, this species at times displays a tyrannical disposition ; and 

 I have observed one to chase a harmless Sparrow to the ground 

 for safety, who merely by inadvertence happened to approach 

 the station he had temporarily chosen for collecting his insect 

 game. 



The notes of peto-HHiy pcto-iuay pcc-way are never uttered 

 by this species; but on the 12th of February, 1830, in Ala- 

 bama, I heard, at that season, a bird uttering this note, and 

 several times afterwards I saw a rather large and dark Fly- 

 catcher in the pine woods, to which I attributed this call, and 

 which must be a distinct species, as its notes bear no resem- 



