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WOOD PEEWEES are tardy in their 

 spring- arrival, not usually reaching 

 here until after May lOth. They love 

 extreme warmtla and so do not take the 

 chances tliat earlier birds do of arriv- 

 ing during a cold spell. They are 

 abundant until September in dry woods 

 and also found to some extent in orch- 

 ard and shade trees. They sing- very 

 freely until the middle of July, during 

 very warm weather tlieir song being 

 about the only one to be heard in the 

 woods. All day long they call to one 

 another with a sad, plaintive "pee-ah- 

 wee," or less often shortened to two 

 syllables, "pee-wee." 



Pewees saddle their nests on hori- 

 zontal limbs of trees, usually quite high 

 up. They are very decorative and re- 

 sembles knots or little tufts of lichens 

 on the limbs, — composed of plant fibres 

 and down, ornamented on the exterior 

 with bits of green and g-ray lichens. 

 The eggs are as handsome as the nest, 

 — bright cream-color with a ring- of 

 chestnut spots around the large end. 



do great damage to the rice crops; men are hired and sta- 

 tioned in all rice fields to try and slaughter them. Thus 

 the bird that we in the north regard so highly is in other 

 places thought of only as an article of food, and in still 

 other localities only as a pest that must be destroyed. 



Flycatchers have neither beauty of plumage nor musical 

 voices, yet they are among our most interesting and useful 

 birds, bur smallest species, the LEAST FLYCATCHER 

 or CHEBEC is one of our most abundant and most soci- 

 able birds. In summer we can always see or hear them in 

 our shade or orchard trees as well as in young woods. 

 Their song, if it is entitled to be called such, is a brusque, 

 energetic "che-bec ! che-bec !" repeated sometimes almost 

 incessantly, with only short pauses between. As each syl- 

 lable is accompanied by a jerk of the head and tail, it 

 would seem as though so much effort ought to be rewarded 

 by a more musical sound, but theirs seems satisfactory to 

 them, if not to us. At times, especially when his mate is 

 sitting upon eggs in the little fibre nest that is snugly tucked 

 into a crotch, he will dart out and seize a passing insect, 

 fly down with a most pleasing little trill and give the tid-bit 

 to her. 



The PHOEBE also has a brusque song of two or three 



