* 



SPECIES 4. MUSCICAPA RAP AX* 



WOOD PEWEE FLYCATCHER. 



[Plate XIIL -Fig. 5.] 



Muscicapa virens, LINN. Syst. 327 LATH. Syn. n, 350. Id. 

 Supp. p. 174, JVb. 82. CATESB. i, 54, fig. 1. Le gobe-mouche 

 brun de la Caroline, BUFF, iv, 543. Muscicapa acadica, GMEL. 

 Syst. i, p. 947, Arct. Zool. 387, No. 270. PEALB'S Museum, 

 JVo. 6660. 



I HAVE given the name Wood Pewee to this species, to dis- 

 criminate it from the preceding, which it resembles so much 

 in form and plumage as scarcely to be distinguished from it, but 

 by an accurate examination of both. Yet in manners, mode of 

 building, period of migration and notes, the two species differ 

 greatly. The Pewee is among the first birds that visit us in 

 spring, frequenting creeks, building in caves and under arches 

 of bridges; the Wood Pewee, the subject of our present account, 

 is among the latest of our summer birds, seldom arriving be- 

 fore the twelfth or fifteenth of May; frequenting the shadiest 

 high timbered woods, where there is little underwood, and 

 abundance of dead twigs and branches shooting across the gloom, 

 generally in low situations; builds its nest on the upper sid^pf 

 a limb or branch, forming it outwardly of moss; but using no 

 mud; and lining it with various soft materials. The female lays 

 five white eggs; and the first brood leave the nest about the 

 middle of June. 



This species is an exceeding expert Flycatcher. It loves to 

 sit on the high dead branches, amid the gloom of the woods, 

 calling out in a feeble plaintive tone,peto way;peto way; pee 

 way; occasionally darting after insects; sometimes making a 



* Muscicapa virms, LINN, which name should be adopted. 



