Birds of Massachusetts. 117 
the line of its migration he has not been able to 
ascertain. He considers it as a new comer into the 
country. 
The Woop Prewer, Muscicapa virens, is a very 
common summer bird, and may be regarded as very 
useful, since, though solitary in its tastes and habits, 
and preferring the shelter of the woods, it is very 
often found in orchards and fields. It resorts to the 
most shaded parts, not from any fear or distrust of — 
man, but because, having the power of seeing in the 
obscure twilight, it does not love the glare of day. 
It arrives in Massachusetts in the middle of May, 
and may then be seen perched on low stakes or 
branches, occasionally darting after insects, which it 
secures with a snap of the bill. Its song, heard in 
the dusk of evening, is pleasant, and harmonizes 
with the calmness of the hour. 
The nest of the wood pewee is generally built on 
a horizontal branch, somewhat after the manner of 
the humming bird's, and coated over with moss, so 
as hardly to be distinguishable from the bark. The 
eggs are three or four, of a yellowish white, spotted 
with lilac and brown. In autumn, when the young 
are full grown, the parents bring them into our vil- 
lages, and even our cities, and teach them to pro- 
cure their food. They sweep so near the surface of 
goas, as to snatch the insects floating on the water ; 
etimes they chase them from the top of the 
= est tree. Before the leaves are fallen, they are 
: ‘gone: to their winter home. 
E 
