35P NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Young birds are duller in plumage ; tlie whitish markings of wing tinged 

 witli i'errugiuous ; the lowur luandililo more dusky. 



IIaijits. The common Wood I'uwee ol' cia.sturu North America occurs in 

 aliundauce from tlie Atlantic to the great plains, and from Texa.s to New 

 Bruuswick. It broed.s from South Carolina and Texas north. It is found in 

 Central aud Soutiieru Maine, but is not .so abundant as it is farther south. 

 It is i'ouud near St. Stepliens, N. Jl, iuid breeds in that vicinity, but is not 

 common. It is a summer visitant at Norway, Me., but I'roi'essor Verrill 

 states that it is much less coiumon than in Massachusetts, where it arrives 

 the last of May. At llaudltou, in Canada, Mr. Mcllwraith records this 

 .species as abundant in the suiumer, arriving there the middle of May. I am 

 not aware of its liaving been taken north of the 45th parallel of latitude, with 

 the excei)tion of one at lied liiver, Minnesota, and another at Fort William 

 by Mr. Keunicott. It is .said by Dr. Coues to be a summer resident of South 

 Carolina from the middle of A])ril to tiie middle of October, and J\Ir. Dresser 

 states that he found it very counuon in the wooded river-l)ottoms near San 

 Antonio during the • ammer, not arriving there until late in April or early in 

 May. Their call-note, he states, is a low prolonged whistle. Their stomaclis 

 were found to contain minute coleopterous insects. Dr. Woodliouse also 

 s])eaks of it as connnon in Te.\as and in the Indian Territory. In tiie De- 

 partment of Vera Cruz, ]\Ir. Suuiichrast ibund this species, as well as the 

 Cuntopus 2K')iin.a.r, conuuon iu the mountains of Orizaba, between the heiglit 

 of :?,(1(;() and 7,500 feet. 



In Pennsylvania, Wilson states that the Wood Pewee is the latest of the 

 summer Ijirds iU arriving, seldoui coming before the 12th or 15th of ]\Iay. 

 He ibund it frequenting the shady high-timbered woods, wlicre there is little 

 unilerwood aud an abundance of dead twigs and bninches. It was gen- 

 erally found in low situations. He adds that it builds its nest ou tlie upper 

 side of a lindj or branch, formed outwaidly of moss and liued with various 

 soft luaterials, and stoics that the female lays five white eggs, and that the 

 brood leave the nest about the middle of June. Probably the last statement 

 is correct as ajijilied to Penn.sylvaniu, but tiie intimation as to the color of 

 the egg and some of tlie characteristics of the nest is so inaccurate as to 

 make it doubtful whether Wilson could have ever .seen the nest for iiimself 



Tliis species, like all its family, is a very exjjert catcher of insects, even 

 the most minute, and lias a wonderfully quirk ])ercc])tion of their near 

 presence, even when the light of day has nearly gone and in tin; deej) gloom 

 of thick woods. It takes its .station on the end of a low dead limb, from 

 wliich it darts out in (picst of iu.sects, .sometimes lor a single individual, 

 which it .seizes with a peculiar snaj) of its liill ; and, freijuently meeting in.sect 

 after insect, it k(!eps up a constant snapi)ing .sound as it ))asses on, and finally 

 returns to its jiost to resume its watch. During this watch it occasionally is 

 heard to utter a low twitter, with a ([uivering nioveiiujut of the wings and 

 tail, and more rarely to enunciate a louder but still feeble call-note, sounding 



