NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 245 



numerous instances of its nesting are recorded. It has been found 

 breeding in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Northern Minnesota. 

 Coh Goss says it is a rare summer resident of Kansas. The nest is 

 usually built in evergreen trees, frequently at a great height from the 

 ground. It is similar in construction to that of the Wood Pewee's nest, 

 being saddled on a horizontal limb or fixed in a fork. A nest before 

 me, taken in Windsor county, Vermont, June lo, 1884, is a shallow 

 structure made of twigs, grasses, and bark strips, lined with soft 

 grasses and moss ; it is a very frail, clumsy structure, compared to 

 that of Contopus virens. This nest was placed in a hemlock tree, 

 thirty feet from the ground, and contained four eggs, which is the 

 usual number. 



From three to five eggs are laid by this species, and May and June 

 are the breeding months. The eggs are creamy-white, spotted about 

 the greater end with a distinct confluent ring of chestnut-red and 

 brown ; there are also spots of purple and lavender, and on the whole 

 the eggs very much resemble those of the Wood Pewee, but are 

 larger; sizes, .90X.65, .89X.65, .90X.62, .90X.67. These sizes are 

 slightly larger than most of those stated by writers. The average size 

 given is about .82 x .62. 



461. Contopus virens (Linn.) [320.] 



Wood Petree. 



Hab. Eastern North America to the edge of the Great Plains, north to Canada, south in winter to 

 Eastern Mexico and Guatemala. 



A common and a well-known bird in Eastern United States. By 

 those who have a superficial knowledge of birds, it is often con- 

 founded with the common Pewee, but it is considerably smaller, slen- 

 derer, and rather darker in color. The notes of both birds are very 

 similar ; those of the Pewee consist of two syllables, quickly and 

 sharply uttered, while those of the Wood Pewee are of two, sometimes 

 three syllables, pe-wee or pe-a-wee^ repeated at all hours of the day, 

 but especially after sunset. The notes are truly sad but sweet, less 

 emphatic, much slower and softer than those of the Phoebe and, as Mr. 

 Thomas Mcllwraith says : " To human ears the notes of the male ap- 

 pear to be the outpourings of settled sorrow, but to his mate the im- 

 pressions conveyed may be very different." * 



The nest of the Wood Pewee is usually placed either on the upper 

 surface of a limb, or in a horizontal fork. It is generally built in 

 a large tree in the interior or on the border of woods, or by the road- 

 side. Very frequently the nest is placed on the horizontal branches of 

 apple trees in orchards, and even in shade trees, in close proximity to 



■••■ Birds of Ontario, p. ISl. 



