PEWEE, WOOD 



The chances are that you will find it perched on a dead 

 twig of some tall tree projecting into open space. There 

 it will look down for insects that may pass beneath, and, 

 sighting one, it glides gracefully downward, seizes the 

 insect, and then returns to its perch with a graceful up- 

 ward curve that shows how beautiful a movement flight 

 may be. 



ABBOTT. Birds About Us. 27 



It is always hungry. I have seen it at sunrise darting 

 at flies in the chilly, dismal, fog-laden air, and until noon, 

 though the woods were as another Inferno, still at work, 

 instead of resting when other birds were taking a nap; 

 not even during the quiet of mid-afternoon, when the 

 sun seemed to have paused in his career; no, nor yet at 

 sundown, when even the last robin had chirped to the 

 world "good night"; but at last, when, in the fading 

 light, its skill was no longer equal to the task, it, too, bade 

 me farewell, its mournful, tired-out pe-a-wee being the 

 last bird-sound of the day. 



ABBOTT. Birdland Echoes. 28 



The wood pewee's nest is essentially woodsy and distinc- 

 tive. It is an exquisite little structure, saddled on to a 

 lichen-covered limb. Made of fine roots and delicate 

 stems of grass and seed pods, it is covered with bits of 

 lichen or moss glued on with saliva, so that like the hum- 

 ming bird's nest it seems to be a knob on the branch. 



FLORENCE A. MERRIAM. Birds Through an Opera Glass. 2 



108 



