Some Nesting Habits of the Wood Pewee 



155 



I wished to know, if I could, to what hour in the evening these frequent 

 and monotonous journeyings from home in search of food might continue. 

 So a third time of watching was set for the later hours of the day — from 6.15 to 

 7.31 o'clock. I think no flights were made after 7.31 o'clock, the time of the last 

 return noted, though by that time it had grown almost too dark even to dis- 

 tinguish the nest. 



Their vision must be sharp, for the prey captured was not always near, and 

 the wonder was that it had been sighted at all. But I think that not even a 

 Pewee's eye could have detected a gnat or fly after 7.31 o'clock on June 25. 



Copyriirht, hv L. S. Hoi-ton 



WOOD PEWEE ON NEST 

 Photographed by L. S. Horton, at Hyde Park, N. Y. 



Ten flights were made between 6.15 and 7.31 o'clock, longer absences being 

 made at times than had been noted before, one being as long as eight minutes 

 and one six minutes long. Once, the flight from the nest was probably made 

 because of the bird's being frightened away by other birds. 



The male was neither seen nor heard during this watch, though at times 

 during each day, and frequently, he was both heard and seen. 



These watches were worth the while, if for nothing else, to enjoy the pretty 

 picture made by the alert and tiny bird on the compact little nest — just such a 

 picture as is so beautifully shown in the July-x\ugust Bird-Lore for 1904.* 

 Neither bird nor nest was easily distinguishable from the gray bark of the bran- 

 ches, though the two white wing-bars were plain when once one knew that the 

 bird was really there. 



During the three days after the 25th the nest was watched at intervals, and 



*Here reproduced. — Ed. 



