35.^ NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Younj[j birds are dnllcr in }>luinage ; the whitish markinjTfS of wini? tinged 

 with leiTiigiiious ; the lower maiidilile more dll.skv^ 



Habits. The coiiinion Wood Pewee of eastern North America occurs in 

 almiidanee from the Atlantic to the j^reat plains, and from Texas to New 

 Brnnswick. It breeds from South Carolina and Texas north. It is found in 

 Central and Southern Maine, but is not so abundant as it is farther south. 

 It is iound near St. Stepliens, X. Jl, and breeds in that vicinity, but is not 

 connnon. It is a summer visitant at Norway, Me., but Professor Verrill 

 states that it is much less common than in Massachusetts, M'here it arrives 

 the last of May. At Hamilton, in Canada, Mr. Mc II wraith records tlii3 

 species as abundant in the summer, arriving there the middle of ^lay. 1 am 

 not aware of its having been taken north of the 45th parallel of latitude, with 

 the excei)tion of one at IJed Kiver, Minnesota, and another at Fort William 

 by Mr. Kennicott. It is said by Dr. Cones to be a summer resident of South 

 Carolina from the middle of April to the middle of October, and ^Ir. Dresser 

 states that he found it very common in the wooded river-bottoms near San 

 Antonio during the summer, not arriving there until late in April or early in 

 May. Their call-note, he states, is a low prolonged whistle. Their stomaclis 

 were found to contain minute coleopterous insects. Dr. Woodhouse also 

 speaks of it as common in Texas and in the Indian Territory. J\ the De- 

 partment of Vera Cruz, ^Ir. Sumichrast found this species, as well as the 

 Contopus pcrtiiiri.i\ common in the mountains of Orizaba, between the height 

 of :>,(]()() and 7,500 feet. 



In Pennsylvania, Wilson states that the Wood Pewee is the latest of the 

 summer birds xu arriving, seldom coming before the 12th or 15th of JNIay. 

 He found it frequenting the shady high-timbered woods, where there is little 

 underwood and an abundance of dead twii^s and branches. It was sen- 

 erally found in low situations. He adds that it builds its nest on the upper 

 side of a limb or branch, formed outwardly of moss and lined with various 

 soft materials, and states that the female lays five white eggs, and that the 

 brood leave the nest about the middle of June. Probably the last statement 

 is correct as api)lied to Pennsylvania, but the intimation as to the color of 

 the eijfg and some of the characteristics of the nest is so inaccurate as to 

 make it doubtful whether Wilson could have ever seen the nest for himself 

 This species, like all its family, is a very exf)ert catcher of insects, even 

 the most minute, and has a wonderfully quick percej)tion of their near 

 presence, even when the light of day has nearly gone and in the deep gloom 

 of thick woods. It takes its station on the end of a low dead limb, from 

 which it darts out in (piest of insects, sometimes for a single individual, 

 which it seizes with a ])eculiar snap of its bill ; and, frequently meeting insect 

 after insect, it keei»s up a constant snapping sound as it ])asses on, and finally 

 returns to its post to resume its watch. During this watch it occasionally is 

 heard to utter a low twitter, witli a quivering movement of the wings and 

 tail, and more rarely to enunciate a louder but still feeble call-note, sounding 



