276 PEWIT FLYCATCHER. 



' feet high, formed by the undermining of the water below, and 

 the projection of two large rocks above: 



There down smooth glist'ning rocks the rivulet pours, 



Till in a pool its silent waters sleep, 

 A dark brow'd cliff, o'ertopp'd with fern and flowr's, 



Hangs, grimly louring, o'er the glassy deep; 

 Above through every chink the woodbines creep, 



And smooth-bark'd beeches spread their arms around, 

 Whose roots cling twisted round the rocky steep; 



A more sequestered scene is no where found, 

 For contemplation deep, and silent thought profound. 



In this cave I knew the Pewit to build for several years. The 

 place was solitary, and he was seldom disturbed. In the month 

 of April, one fatal Saturday, a party of boys from the city, armed 

 with guns, dealing indiscriminate destruction among the fea- 

 thered tribes around them, directed their murderous course this 

 way, and within my hearing destroyed both parents of this old 

 and peaceful settlement. For two successive years, and I be- 

 lieve to this day there has been no Pewee seen about this place. 

 This circumstance almost convinces me that birds, in many in- 

 stances, return to the same spots to breed; and who knows but 

 like the savage nations of Indians they may usurp a kind of ex- 

 clusive right of tenure to particular districts where they them- 

 selves have been reared. 



The notes of the Pewee, like those of the Blue-bird, are pleas- 

 ing, not for any melody they contain, but from the ideas of 

 spring and returning verdure with all the sweets of this lovely 

 season, which are associated with his simple but lively ditty. 

 Towards the middle of June he becomes nearly silent; and late 

 in the Fall gives us a few farewell and melancholy repetitions, 

 that recal past imagery, and make the decayed and withered 

 face of nature appear still more melancholy. 



The Pewit is six inches and a half in length, and nine and a 

 half broad; the upper parts are of a dark dusky olive; the plu- 

 mage of the head, like those of the two preceding, is loose, 

 subcrested, and of a deep brownish black; wings and tail deep 



