MAY BIRDS. 53 



are a family confined exclusively to the 

 New World. They seem to occupy in or- 

 nithology a middle ground between the 

 finches and the warblers. 



The fly-catchers, of which the only rep- 

 resentative so far mentioned in my letters 

 is the phoebe-bird, belong to the great divi- 

 sion of clamatores, or screamers, and really 

 have no right to sing at all. The least fly- 

 catcher, or chebec {empidonax miniimis), 

 may be said strictly to follow the letter of 

 instructions laid down for him by the or- 

 nithologists. His sharp, emphatic cJiebcc 

 is far from melodious, resembling some- 

 what one of the commonest utterances of 

 the unmusical English sparrow. 



The last bird I shall mention in this 

 letter is the wood-pewee {contopits virens), 

 another member of the fly-catcher family, 

 whose long-drawn-out pe-ee-wee in sweet- 

 ness and pathos scarcely yields the palm to 

 many of the oscines or singing-birds proper. 

 The wood-pewee, like the field-sparrow, the 

 chewink, and the wood-thrush, sings far into 

 the summer. Its nest, which rivals the 



