PASSERES CLAMATORES TYRANNID^. 



77 



tions iu spring and fall. It arrives the third week in April and remains 

 until the third week in September. In the spring- it becomes conspicu- 

 ous through the vehement reiteration of its load, harsh, and altogether 

 peculiar notes, somewhat resembling the cry of the tree-frog, repeated 

 for an hour at a time with intervals of a few minutes whilst the bird is 

 upon its perch in the top of a tree. Unlike most flycatchers, it nests in 

 holes, uses the slough of snakes in the construction of its nest, and lays 

 very singularly-marked eggs. [3TS\ 



123. (37.) Sayiornis fusca (Gm.) Ld. Pewit Flycatcher; " Phoebe-bird ; " 

 "Tom-tit." 



A common summer resident, but more plentiful in spring and fall, 

 since the greater number pass further north to breed. This is the first 

 of the spring visitors, arriving before the Swallows and Bluebirds, about 

 the 1st of March. It is very abundant for a month or six weeks, and 

 again in the fall from the latter part of September until the third week 



Fig. 57.— Pewit Flycatcher. 



in October. It is not specially a woodland bird, like the Gontopus, being 

 often found out in weedy fields, by the roadsides, in ravines ; and breeds 

 in caves, about rocks, creeks, and bridges, as well as in out-houses. 

 The very pretty nest, stuccoed with mosses, is affixed by the mud com- 

 posing it to the side of some vertical support; the eggs are white, nor- 

 mally unmarked. [370] 



124. (38.) Contopus virens (Linn.) Cab. Wood Pp:wee. 



A summer resident, extremely abundant in all the woodland. It 

 arrives the last week in April, becomes numerous in about two weeks, 

 and remains until the third week in September. One can hardly enter 

 a piece of woods without being saluted with its plaintive, droning notes; 

 and some individuals regularly nest in the parks within city limits. 



