264 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



CONTOPUS VIRENS (Linn.). 

 189. Wood Pewee. (461) 



Olivaceous-browii, rather darker on the head ; below, with the sides waslied 

 Avith a paler shade of the same nearly or quite across the breast ; the throat and 

 belly, whitish, more or less tinged with dnll yellowish ; under tail coverts, the 

 same, usually streaked with duskj' ; tail and wings, blackish, the former 

 luimarked, the inner quills edged and the coverts tipped with whitish ; feet and 

 upper mandible, black ; under mandible, usually yellow, sometimes dusky. 

 Spring si)eciniens are purer olivaceous. Early fall birds are brighter yellow 

 below : in summer, before the now worn feathers are renewed, quite brown and 

 dingy-whitish. Very young birds have the wing-ljars and pale edging of quills 

 tinged with rusty, the feathers of the upper parts skirted, and the lower 

 plumage tinged with the same ; but in any plumage the species may be known 

 from all the birds of the following genus liy these dimensions. Length, 6-6^ ; 

 wing, 3^-85 ; tail, y^-S ; tarsus, about h, not longer than the hi//. 



Hab. — Eastei-n North America to the Plains, and from Southern Canada 

 .soutliM'aid. 



Nest, composed of Ijark fibre, rootlets and grass, finished with lichens ; on 

 the outside it is compact and firm round the edge, l)ut fiat in foini, and rather 

 loose in the bottom. It is sometimes saddled on a bough, more freq'.iently 

 placed on the fork of a tMig ten or twelve feet or more from the ground. 



Eggs, three or four, creamy-white, blotched and variegated at the larger 

 end with reddish-brown and lilac-gray. 



This .species resembles the Phcelje in appearance, l)ut is smallei', 

 and has an erect, hawk-like attitude, when seen perched on a dead 

 twig on the outer limb of a tree. It is a late comer, being seldom 

 seen before the middle of May, after which its prolonged, mehmcholy 

 notes may be heard alike in the woods and orchaicls till the end of 

 August, when the birds move south. To human ears, the notes of the 

 male appear to be the outpourings of settled .sorrow, liut to his mate 

 the impressions conveyed may be veiy diflPerent. 



In the breeding season, it is generally distributed throughout 

 Ontario, and a few are found in Manitoba. 



Its visit here is comparatively short, for it does not appear till the 

 middle of May, and leaves again early in iSeptembei'. Its food 

 con.sists chiefly of insects, caught while on the wing. 



