274 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



not agitated by the presence of flickers. With chipping sparrows 

 they were on very friendly terms. The toleration of another species 

 I once saw displayed even in the vicinity of the nest. A least fly- 

 catcher was building its deep nest about 60 feet from the ground in 

 a tall slender tree, while a wood pewee sat unconcerned in her own 

 flat nest about 5 feet away in the same tree." 



Beatrice Sawyer Kossell (1921) points out an exception to the 

 bird's usual peaceful behavior. She relates : "My attention was sud- 

 denly attracted by a Wood Pewee, which flew to a dead twig, not 3 

 feet above my head. I called my companion's attention to it, and as 

 I spoke the bird darted at my head, coming so close that I instinctive- 

 ly swerved. He flew back to his perch, and in a minute made another 

 dart, almost brushing me with his wings. * * * For a few sec- 

 onds he fluttered around me, then made a dart and pecked my finger 

 with his sharp little bill." 



Ira N. Gabrielson (1922), who had lowered a nest containing three 

 eggs to within 3 feet of the ground, says: "We were regarded with 

 absolute indifference as we approached to within six feet to take 

 a photograph. * * * xhe brooding bird was not disturbed by 

 my entrance into the blind but as the camera lens appeared in the 

 opening of the blind she left the nest and dashed repeatedly at the 

 lens, snapping her mandibles vigorously. This continued for several 

 minutes before she finally returned to the nest. At intervals during 

 the morning she renewed her attack on the lens but aside from this 

 paid no attention to either the blind or my movements." 



Voice. — The wood pewee has a very attractive voice — a sweet, pure, 

 tranquil whistle delivered calmly in short, slow phrases. The 

 leisurely notes, sliding smoothly and evenly as they change in pitch, 

 give the impression of restfulness and peace, almost of sadness. 

 Bradford Torrey (1901) calls the song "an elegy." All day from 

 dawn to dusk it goes languidly on, pee-a-toee, (a pause) peea, phrase 

 after phrase, often with long pauses between them, never hurried, 

 always serene. The song continues well into hot, parched August, 

 when most birds are silent. Aretas A. Saunders (1924), speaking of 

 the uniformity of the wood pewee's singings, says : "Of a number of 

 records made from different individuals at the same season of the 

 year, the majority are likely to be almost, if not exactly, identical." 



Perhaps, in the case of the wood pewee, the term song should be 

 applied only to the bird's singing in the half light before dawn and 

 in the evening long after sunset. At these times of day the bird 

 devotes about 40 minutes in the morning and a shorter, less regular 

 period in the evening to singing a song quite different from its day- 

 light notes, a song so charmingly rhythmical that it has attracted 

 the attention of musicians and excited their admiration. 



