228 • Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



the nest being commonly placed on a dead branch or a 

 bare portion of a living limb. The nest is made of fine 

 dried grass, covered with willow cotton and lichens, and 

 lined with fine grasses. The structure is fastened to the 

 branch by pieces of gossamer and cottony fibers, and is 

 characterized by its shallowness. An average nest meas- 

 ures two and three-fourths inches in external diameter, 

 the cavity being one inch and seven-eighths in diameter 

 and three-fourths of an inch deep, a snugly rounded, 

 exquisitely constructed saucer for the receptioQ of the eggs, 

 commonly three, sometimes four. They have a creamy 

 white ground, and are spotted with reddish-brown and 

 lilac, the spots often forming a wreath around the larger 

 end. They average .75 by .55 of an inch. Eobert Bidg- 

 way beautifully says that the nest <* is one of the most 

 elegant examples of bird architecture. From beneath it 

 usually so much resembles a natural protuberance of a 

 branch, or knotty excrescence, that but for its betrayal by 

 the owner it would seldom be discovered. It is a very 

 compact, saucer-shaped structure, with thick walls, and 

 the whole exterior is a beautiful ' mosaic ' of green, gray, 

 and glaucous lichens." 



The notes of the wood pewees are heard oftenest in the 

 breeding season, which sometimes is prolonged into July, 

 and it is probable that two broods are raised in many 

 instances. Nests with young are not uncommon at the 

 twentieth of July, but whether these are duo to late nidifi- 

 cation in the first attempt, or to failures in earlier attempts, 

 or to second nests, I am unable to state with certainty. 

 Any of the three causes may operate at various times. 

 During August and until they take their departure for 

 their winter homes, the wood pewees are heard less fre- 

 quently, and they resort to higher places in the trees. In 

 the dark maple groves and in the forest they can be seen 

 flitting out into the open spaces for insects, darting out 

 and turning abruptly upward or downward, and often 

 taking insects from the surface of the leaves while hover- 

 ing in warbler-like fashion. After the nesting period 

 they are less solitary, and several are often seen in the 

 same part of the grove or woods, darting to and fro in 

 pursuit of their prey. They are then most active in the 



