EASTERN WOOD PEWEE 271 



any sound that was audible to me. The feeding continued to be a 

 very matter-of-fact, well-regulated business; the young one opened 

 its mouth only at the auspicious moment, and the food was quickly 

 gulped down. Excreta were swallowed until the nestling was four 

 or five days old; later they were carried away and discarded. 



"During its thirteenth and fourteenth day the nestling was occu- 

 pied chiefly in stretching up on the edge of the nest, flapping its 

 wings, looking down at the ground or out through the trees, or 

 watching a butterfly if one came near. It fluttered, stretched, dozed, 

 and took nourishment by turns. Occasionally it almost toppled 

 from the edge of the nest but seemed to have no thought of taking 

 a walk on the branch. But the next morning the youngster ventured 

 out to a distance of about 2 feet, and later, purposely dislodged by 

 a parent, I thought, it fluttered to the ground. From here it struck 

 out on its own account, almost reaching the eaves of a low building 

 30 yards down the slope before again fluttering to the ground." 



Bendire (1895) says: "The young leave the nest in about sixteen 

 days, and are cared for by both parents." Knight (1908) gives the 

 period of nest life as "about eighteen days after hatching." Mr. 

 DuBois's bird left on its fifteenth day. 



Dr. Thomas S. Eoberts (1932) states: "The young, when first out 

 of the nest, sit huddled together in a row, waiting to be fed and 

 voicing their impatience in a plaintive squeak, like a mouse in 

 distress." 



Plumages. — [Author's note: In the early stages of the juvenal 

 plumage the feathers are soft, fluffy, and blended, but they appear 

 firmer in September with the beginning of the post juvenal molt. In 

 the juvenal plumage the upper parts are "olive-brown" but much 

 darker on the pileum, the feathers of the crown and rump being 

 narrowly edged with buffy brown ; sometimes the entire upper parts 

 have these faint edgings, and sometimes the feathers of the nape are 

 faintly edged with ashy gray; the median and greater wing coverts 

 are tipped with "light ochraceous-buff," forming two distinct wing 

 bands ; the central and posterior under parts are "pale primrose yel- 

 low," abruptly defined against the "olive-gray" sides of the throat and 

 flanks, with an indistinct pectoral band of olive-gray. 



A postjuvenal molt, probably incomplete, begins early in Septem- 

 ber and evidently is not wholly finished before the birds go south. 

 Wliether the wings and tail are molted at this time or later in fall 

 or winter does not seem to be known. Dr. Dwight (1900) says that 

 the first winter plumage "resembles closely the previous dress, but 

 grayish instead of brownish tinged above, the edgings and collar 

 lost and the new wing-bands grayish." 



