PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR. 



105 



Wood-pewees favor us with their presence for 

 about six months of the year, but usually it is a week 

 or two less than this. They want the foliage so far 

 advanced that they may have to welcome them on 

 their arrival that beautiful green light that fills the 

 woodland in early May. As our seasons are noted 

 for their irregularity, there being no recognizable 

 law controlling them, so does the date of the wood- 

 pewee's arrival show decided varia- 

 tions year after year ; but how do 

 they know to the very day when the 

 conditions are 

 suitable? This 

 is one of the 

 interesting 

 problems of 

 migration, for 

 in our miser- 

 ably changeable and exasperating 

 climate there is nothing that man 

 can see that acts as a guide to the 

 birds, and yet they seldom make 

 any serious mistake. Still, though 

 this has nothing to do with the seasons, a dreary 

 northeast rain sometimes sets in at the time of their 

 first appearance, and then, weary, if not weak, from 

 days of travel, they have a miserable time of it for 

 a while. Their feathers are neither so oily nor so 

 closely shingled as to shed the water, and could the 

 birds not find shelter, many would perish. Such 

 storms increase the mortality among migratory birds 



Wood-pewee. 



