BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



193 



GENUS CONTOPUS OABANIB. 

 Contopus virens (LnsrN.). 



Wood Pewee. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 91). 



Length about 6 inches; extent about 10; above dusky brownish-olive, darkest on 

 head ; sides of head, neck and breast similar, but much paler on breast ; lower parts 

 light-yellowish, the latter most conspicuous on middle of belly ; narrow white ring 

 around eye ; two white wing bars ; upper mandible blackish, lower yellow (in young 

 lower mandible is dusky). The young are duller in plumage and whitish mark- 

 ings on wings, as well as feathers of upper parts, more or less edged with pale rusty. 



Habitat. Eastern North America to the plains, and from sputhern Canada south- 

 ward. 



The Wood Pewee, a common summer resident, arrives in Pennsylva- 

 nia early in May and continues with us until about September 20. This 

 bird is found commonly in forests or the shady retreats of apple or- 

 chards. During- the breeding season, particularly, the Wood Pewee 

 when perched on the dead branches of trees, watching- for his insect 

 prey, utters a peculiar plaintive drawling note"pe-artveesa-pee-tveef"- 

 which once heard is rarely forgotten. A writer has very properly said 

 that these notes in the latter part of the summer are almost the only 

 ones heard in the woods. The thin-bottomed, thick- walled and somewhat 

 saucer-shaped nest, built usually on a thick, horizontal tree limb, is 

 composed, internally, of grass stems, fine fibers of roots or other soft 

 substances, and covered externally with lichens, which are held in place 

 by cobwebs or " glued to the other materials by the birds saliva." The 

 eggs, four or five in number, are yellowish-white, with reddish-brown 

 and lilac spots, generally in a ring about the larger end. They measure 

 about .75 of an inch in length, and a little over .50 of an inch in width. 

 I have never found Wood Pewees feeding on small fruits, but have 

 always observed that they feed exclusively on insects. Audubon, how- 

 ever, states, during the winter months, he has observed these birds in 



13 BIEDS. 



Taken in the mornings' feeding near a pond. 



