170 Birds Every Child Should Know 



departs the instant an insect flies within sight 1 

 With a cheerful, sudden sally in mid-air, it 

 snaps up the luscious bite, for it can be quite as 

 active as any of the family. While not so 

 ready to be neighbourly as the phoebe, the 

 pewee condescends to visit our orchards and 

 shade trees. 



When nesting time comes, it looks for a partly 

 decayed, lichen-covered branch, and on to this 

 saddles a compact, exquisite cradle of fine 

 grass, moss and shreds of bark, binding bits of 

 lichen with spiders' web to the outside until 

 the sharpest of eyes are needed to tell the 

 stuccoed nest from the limb it rests on. Only 

 the tiny hummingbird, who also uses lichen as 

 a protective and decorative device, conceals 

 her nest so successftdly. 



LEAST FLYCATCHER 



Called also: Chehec 



It is not until he calls out his name, Chehec! 

 Chehec! in clear and business-like tones from 

 some tree-top that you could indentify this 

 fluffy flycatcher, scarcely more than five inches 

 long, whose dusky coat and light vest offer no 

 helpful markings. Not a single gay feather 

 relieves his sombre suit. Isn't this a queer, 

 Quakerly taste for a bird that spends half his life 



