292 LAND-BIRDS. 



b. The nest is artistic, and in its character quite unique, 

 though in some respects not unlike that of the Humming- 

 bird. It is composed chiefly of fine grasses, or weed-stalks, 

 which are mixed with the silk of spiders or caterpillars. 

 It is rather shallow, and, being thickly covered outside with 

 lichens, seems a part of the moss-grown limb to which it 

 is "saddled." It is usually placed on a horizontal branch 

 of the oak, or some like tree, in a grove or rather lightly 

 timbered wood, from ten to forty feet above the ground. 

 Near Boston, four or five eggs * are laid about the middle of 

 June. They average .70 X .55 of an inch, and are buff 

 or creamy, with a few large markings, at the greater end, 

 of lilac and umber, or reddish brown. 



c. The Wood Pewee is one of the four common Fly- 

 catchers in southern New England, and even in the north- 

 ern parts is not a rare summer resident. He is one of the 

 latest migrants in spring, and does not reach Massachusetts 

 until the third or even the fourth week of May. He an- 

 nounces his arrival by his plaintive notes, which he utters 

 in his favorite haunts, the woods and groves. These places 

 he rarely leaves,^ for he is rather reserved and unsocial, 

 having little to do with man or other kinds of birds, 

 though very affectionate to his mate and young. There is 

 sometimes an air of seeming melancholy* about him which 

 is quite touching, but undoubtedly he either takes a pleasure 

 in sadness, or else he is not sad. He is not very often 

 seen, but he may easily be observed from his habit of 

 returning to one spot. I have known one to choose the 

 dead limb of a pine, to which he resorted every evening 

 for about an hour, and sometimes in the course of the 

 day. There I often saw him with his mate, but since the 

 building of their nest the place has been deserted. The 

 limit of his wanderings from his nest seems to be about 

 one eighth of a mile, and, to some extent, he may at certain 

 hours be found at nearly the same place from day to day. 



* This again is certainly an over- doubtful if more than four are ever 

 statement, for the number of eggs in laid. W. B. 

 a set rarely exceeds three, and it is 



