WOOD PEWEE. 179 



IIAHITS. 



Among the numerous birds which visit New England in summer, there are none that 

 come with less display than the Wood Pewees. Almost all of our returning migrants an- 

 nounce their arrival more or less ostentatiously; the flocking Blackbirds chatter loudly as 

 soon as they enter the meadows, the Bobolink greets his old home with his most cheerful 

 song, the notes of the Oriole seem the clearest when he sings among the blossoming cherry 

 lives, and even the little Chipping Sparrow does not allow an hour to pass after he enters 

 the garden without informing his old friends of his advent by uttering his peculiar notes. 

 In fact, field, meadow, and woodland are ringing with the melody of newly arrived song- 

 sters and amid this joyous outbreak, the gently given pe-wee of our somber-colored little 

 friends passes almost unheeded. But later, in June, when the oaks and maples are cov- 

 ered with delicately tinted foliage, when the ferns have fully unrolled their beautiful 

 pinnate fronds, when Nature has clothed all vegetable life with her loveliest greens and the 

 air in the groves is redolent with that spicy odor only to be observed in early summer, 

 then the plaintive lay of the Wood Pewee is heard to perfection. It is more noticeable 

 near the middle of the day when many birds are biking their noon-time siesta and naught 

 is to be heard excepting the long-drawn notes of this Flycatcher which are given very 

 low as if the bird was not desirous of breaking the stillness. They sing throughout the day 

 all summer long, constantly reiterating their lay even during the most sultry days of 

 August. 



As might be infered from the plaintive melody uttered by the Wood Pewees, they 

 are rather indolent in habit when compared with the other Flycatchers. Neither are they 

 quarrelsome and I cannot recall an instance when I saw one make an attack upon another 

 species. This indolence, however, is more seeming than real, it being the habit of the 

 birds to go quietly about their vocations without bluster. They will perch on some high 

 limb in the woods, in an upright attitude with drooping wings, but it can be seen that they 

 are watching keenly all the while, for the head is turned quickly from side to side and 

 the bright eyes are surveying every object far or near with microscopic exactness. Sud- 

 denly it catches sight of a passing insect which is desirable, for the Wood Pewees are 

 epicures to a certain extent as they will not eat all species of insects, then it launches out 

 with an almost inconceivable swiftness, checks its rapid (light by spreading its tail to the 

 'utmost, and the loud snap of its beak announces that its victim has met its fate. Their 

 prey is usually taken on the wing, but I have occasionally seen them picking insects from 

 the brandies. 



They are generally silent when feeding, the notes of which I have spoken being given 

 more frequently when the birds are at leisure. Besides this call, the Wood Pewees in- 

 dulge in a kind of song. They will alight on a limb, usually flying upward before so 

 doing, and, giving a little flutter of the wings, will utter a few murmuring notes which are 

 so low that they can be heard but a few yards. This peculiar lay is only given, as far as 

 I have observed, in the breeding season and, as if is evidently an attempt to sing, proves 

 that the birds would indulge in as melodious a carol as any of the members of the Section 

 Oscines, were they not debarred by physical impossibilities. Thus in the Wood Pewee we 



