28 



THE OQLOGIST. 



than this one, — the Pewee. Reaching 

 us a little after the first of April, they 

 soon pair off, and, after inspecting all 

 old sheds, bridges, stnd culverts, they 

 finally settle down in earnest to the 

 nest-making and afterwards to the rais- 

 ing of the hungry brood. A second 

 nest is sometimes commenced before 

 the young have left the nest. One May 

 morning while strolling along the banks 

 of a small stream, which runs along 

 side of a clay bluff (about 30 ft. high) 

 for quite a distance, I noticed a green 

 ball of moss on the perpendicular side 

 of the bluff, and, out of curiosity, threw 

 a stone at it. I was surprised to see a 

 Phoebe leave the spot and climbing to 

 the top of the bluff I looked down and 

 saw a beautiful nest of this species con- 

 taining a full set of eggs. On account 

 of a number of springs, which trickled 

 down from the top, the moss, of which 

 the framework, of the nest was com- 

 posed, was always kept green. The 

 young reached maturity; yet the danger 

 during rains must have been great. A 

 pair of Kingfishers, nesting in the same 

 bluff, seemed to take great sport in 

 scaring the wits out of the sitting bird 

 and the young by flying back and forth 

 over the nest, just as near as they 

 could, making a great noise; but it 

 seemed to me purely in sport. About 

 two rods from this nest, in the stream, 

 was a stump which had been brought 

 down by the spring freshet and the 

 roots had] become filled with drift 

 material. In this drift, not over eight 

 inches from the water, a Phoebe had 

 built her nest, and, while listening 

 to the purring, water had brought up 

 her brood. 



Arriving about a month after this 

 species and none the less highly esteem- 

 ed, by those who do not confuse the 

 two species, is the Wood Pewee. 



The songs of the two birds are very 

 much the same but the way Wood Pe- 

 wee renders his puts him far in advance 

 as a musician. And how -beautifully 



Wood Pewee can harmonize his song 

 with his surroundings so we ever come 

 to associate it with his haunts, and, 

 when wandering through our beautiful 

 groves, listen, unknowingly, for his; 

 sweet cadence. It always gives me a. 

 thrill of pleasure when I find its nest, 

 for to me, when containing its comple- 

 ment of eggs, it presents such a beauti- 

 ful contrast; and I doubt if I ever shall 

 experience as much joy when 1 find my 

 first Ruby-throat's nest, if I ever do, as 

 I did when I found my first Wood Pe~ 

 wee's nest. Two broods are often 

 raised in a season as I found on Aug 

 30, '89 four nests of this species all con- 

 taining eggs. Six nests, lying before 

 me, average two inches in diameter and 

 three-fourths of an inch in depth inside. 

 One of these nests is lined with wool 

 and I have collected two sets lined with 

 skeletons of leaves with but a slight 

 covering of bark fibers over them. The 

 nests are always on a horizontal limb- 

 and sometimes saddled on a crotch. 

 Most of my nests were found in oak 

 trees in woods which are high and dry. 

 Only twice, have I found nests in but- 

 ternut and once in ash trees. Some- 

 times the eggs are deposited at quite a 

 little time from each other but I never 

 noticed, myself, whether they all hatch- 

 ed. My friend, Mr. Strong, did watch, 

 however, and he found, in one case, 

 that one egg was deposited nearly two- 

 weeks before the rest; but on careful 

 observation he decided that it never 

 hatched. Mr. Strong found, also, a 

 most beautiful nest of this species- 

 which, was lined with the green seed- 

 pods of a weed found growing near by 

 and when just completed was very 

 striking. It is very easy to locate nests 

 of this bird but not so easy to find them 

 even when you know about which tree 

 they are in so much do they look like 

 the tree. 



The Least Flycatcher is often seen in 

 this locality but I never have been so. 

 fortunate as to find its nest with eggs _ 



