EASTERN WOOD PEWEE 277 



extreme! 3^ rare. * * * About 3 dozen records have come to my 

 notice but these probably represent a small percentage of the cases 

 found." 



Fall. — At Point Pelee, Taverner and Swales (1907) found wood 

 pewees "very abundant in the early days of fall. It is evident that 

 the first fall movement of this species begins early in the season. 

 The 24th of August, 1907, we found the woods of the Point already 

 m possession of innumerable hosts of Wood Pewees, and through 

 early September we have always found them the most prominent bird 

 m the landscape.'- 



Alfred M. Bailey and Earl G. Wright (1931), writing of southern 

 Louisiana, says: "In November it is fairly numerous, and one of the 

 delights of still hunting for deer along the wooded regions, is to watch 

 the small birds working through the tree tops. Small warblers are 

 ever on the move, but the pewee often sits motionless on twigs over 

 the water, and then conies suddenly to life long enough to flulter into 

 space, seize an insect, and drop back to perch." 



William Brewster (1937) gives an instance of a young wood pewee 

 caught bj^ inclement weather in northern Maine late in the season : 



1899, Octobei* 1. — A bitter day for the season with harsh north-west wind, over- 

 clouded sky and frequent flurries of snow melting as fast as it strucli the ground 

 in the lowlands, but whitening the mountain crests from morning to night. 

 Visiting our boat-house by the river-bank in Upton this afternoon I was not a 

 little surprised to find a Wood Pewee there, cowering under the lee of the 

 building with ruffled and somewhat bedraggled plumage, looking benumbed and 

 disheartened. Nevertheless its eyes shone brightly and it made occasional dash- 

 ing forays among the thick falling snowflakes apparently mistaking them for 

 white-winged insects or at least treating them as such. It spent most of its 

 time, however, on the ground, or rather on piles of chips and pieces of boards, 

 where it fluttered or hopped from place to place picking up food the nature of 

 which I failed to ascertain. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Eastern United States and southern Canada; south in 

 Avinter to northwestern South America. 



Breeding range. — The eastern wood pewee breeds north to southern 

 Manitoba (Fairford, probably Lake St. Martin, and Shoal Lake) ; 

 southern Ontario (Indian Baj', Gargantua, Xorth Bay, and Algon- 

 quin Park) ; southern Quebec (Hatley) ; northern Maine (Kineo, 

 Presque Isle, and Easton) ; and Xova Scotia (Pictou). South along 

 the Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia (Pictou and Halifax) to Florida 

 (St. Augustine and Samsula). South to Florida (Samsula, Mican- 

 opy, and Waukeenah) ; Louisiana (New Orleans, Bains, and New 

 Iberia) ; and southern Texas (Houston and San Antonio). West 

 to central Texas (San Antonio and San Angelo) ; central Oklahoma 



324726 — 42 19 



