366 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



closely inspected, the absence of wing bars, or if these are present, as in 

 the young pewees, their relative dimness, is a serviceable field character, 

 as also is the presence of a light area down the middle of the bird's under 

 surface. The wood pewee, moreover, has no suggestion of an eye-ring, 

 which feature, due to the white or yellowish color of the circlet of small 

 feathers immediately around the eye in the Empidonaces, give these 

 smaller flycatchers a distinctive, big-eyed expression. 



The monotonous droning call of the pewee is altogether unique. This 

 note is one of the commonest of bird voices heard at all places, from the 

 first digger pines of the foothills to the limit of the red firs and Jeffrey 

 pines at the upper margin of the Canadian Zone. Wood pewees are active 

 and calling from earliest dawn until after dark. They occasionally wake 

 in the middle of the night to voice a call or two. 



The forage range of this bird is usually about the lower periphery 

 of the forest trees and from about 15 to 40 feet above the ground. It has 

 no close restriction to one particular habitat or species of tree as do the 

 smaller flycatchers (genus Empidonax), and it may be seen in a great 

 variety of situations. Occasionally it seeks the top of a tree, after the 

 manner of the Olive-sided Flycatcher, but it rarely if ever goes so high 

 above the ground as that bird. 



The earliest record at hand for the Western Wood Pewee in the 

 Yosemite section is for May 9 (1919) when several were seen at Blacks 

 Creek near Coulterville. None had been seen in the preceding four days 

 in the lower foothills, nor were any pewees observed in Yosemite Valley 

 on May 1, 1916. The second week of May evidently marks the time of 

 arrival of this species in the region. At Snelling, on May 26, 1915, w'ood 

 pewees were still in migration, for they were then seen in all sorts of 

 surroundings. Two days earlier, at Pleasant Valley, 20 were recorded 

 in a 5-hour census, many more than would likely liave been seen in an 

 equal period of time after the migrant contingent had moved on. By 

 May 30 they had decreased, only 3 being observed in 3i/^ hours. East of 

 the Sierras near Williams Butte the species was first noted in 1916 on 

 May 18. 



A Western Wood Pewee watched in the forest east of Coulterville, 

 June 1, 1915, occupied in succession, as forage perches, the terminal twigs 

 of a yellow pine, a fence wire, and the dead limbs of a black oak. At timed 

 intervals of 15, 10, 15, 10, 15, and 15 seconds it flew out after pa.ssing 

 insects. After taking something particularly large it gulped several times 

 before swallowing the insect and then carefully wi]>ed its bill (mi a con- 

 venient twig. Between sorties after prey the bird uttered its monotonous 

 call note at short intervals. Near Porcupine Flat a wood pewee was found 

 to have a much frequented perch in a certain tree and on the ground 



