54 IN THE HEMLOCKS. 



legged, of no particular color, of little elegance in 

 flight or movement, with a disagreeable flirt of the tail, 

 always quarreling with their neighbors and with one 

 another, no birds are so little calculated to excite 

 pleasurable emotions in the beholder, or to become 

 objects of human interest and affection. The king- 

 bird is the best dressed member of the family, but he 

 is a braggart : and, though always snubbing his neigh- 

 bors, is an arrant coward, and shows the white feather 

 at the slightest display of pluck in his antagonist. I 

 have seen him turn tail to a swallow, and have known 

 the little pewee in question to whip him beautifully. 

 From the great crested to the little green fly-catcher, 

 their ways and general habits are the same. Slow in 

 flying from point to point, they yet have a wonderful 

 quickness, and snap up the fleetest insects with little 

 apparent effort. There is a constant play of quick, 

 nervous movements underneath their outer show of 

 calmness and stolidity. They do not scour the limbs 

 and trees like the warblers, but, perched upon the mid- 

 dle branches, wait, like true hunters, for the game to 

 come along. There is often a very audible snap of 

 the beak as they seize their prey. 



The wood-pewee, the prevailing species in this local- 

 ity, arrests your attention by his sweet, pathetic cry. 

 There is room for it also in the deep woods, as well as 

 for the more prolonged and elevated strains. 



Its relative, the phcebe-bird, builds an exquisite nest 

 of moss on the side of some shelving cliff or overhang- 



