WOOD PEWEE. 



singers. Upper parts smoky olive ; wings and tail sepia 

 brown; shoulder feathers of the wings tipped with dull 

 white, forming two more or less distinct wing-bars; 

 under parts white faintly tinged with yellow and graded 

 to light olive gray on the breast and sides; upper mandi- 

 ble black, the lower light horn-color. The sexes are 

 alike. Nest substantially built of fine grasses woven 

 with plant fibre and moss, the outside covered with lich- 

 ens; it is usually on a horizontal limb fifteen to forty 

 feet from the ground. Egg white and marked with a 

 circle of brown specks about the larger end. 



Mr. Chapman says, after complimenting the singer : 

 " All day long the Pewee sings, even when the heat of 

 summer silences more vigorous birds and the midday 

 sun sends light-shafts to the ferns, the clear, sympathetic 

 notes of the retired songster come from the green canopy 

 overhead, in perfect harmony with the peace and still- 

 ness of the hour." There it is, as plain as can be pure 

 sentiment! Mr. Chapman strikes the keynote of the 

 Pe wee's song; whether at "matins" or "vespers" it is 

 always the same, slow, peaceful, restful, and thoroughly 

 musical. There is none of the nervous haste of the 

 Robin, none of the clatter of the Flicker, and all of the 

 sweetness of the Peabody-bird. Pee-a-wee he sings, and 

 then after an unreasonably long pause, he adds, peer! 

 It is difficult to imagine how anyone with a good ear for 

 sound (I will not say music) can possibly miss the char- 

 acter of the song, for the very simple reason that it is so 

 obviously easy to catch it. Whistle w-h-i-e-u with the 

 familiar run down the musical scale, just as though 

 some one stepped on your toe, or you were greatly sur- 

 prised or shocked, and if that is done in the laziest pos- 

 sible manner, the Pe wee's peer is accurately imitated I 



Jj> g^\ 



It is no presto performance, it must be decidedly largo, 

 and when the lowest tone of the scale is reached it must 



39 



