WOOD PEWEE. 95 



may be expressed by the syllables pe-wee, pettowee, pe-wee, prolonged 

 like the last sighs of a despondent lover, or rather like what you might 

 imagine such sighs to be, it being, I believe, rare actually to hear them. 



This species, in common with the Great Crested Flycatcher, and the 

 Least Wood Pewee, is possessed of a peculiarity of vision, which enables 

 it to see and pursue its prey with certainty, when it is so dark that you 

 cannot perceive the bird, and are rendered aware of its occupation only 

 by means of the clicking of its bill. 



The nest of the Wood Pewee is as delicate in its form and structure, 

 as the bird is in the choice of the materials which it uses in its construc- 

 tion. In almost every case, 1 have found it well fastened to the upper 

 part of a horizontal branch, without any apparent preference being given 

 to particular trees. Were it not that the bird generally discloses its situa- 

 tion, it would be difficult to discover it, for it is shallow, well saddled to 

 the branch, and connected with it by an extension of the lichens forming 

 its outer coat, in such a manner as to induce a person seeing it to suppose 

 it merely a swelling of the branch. These lichens are glued together ap- 

 parently by the saliva of the bird, and are neatly lined with very fine grasses, 

 the bark of vines, and now and then a few horse-hairs. The eggs are four 

 or five, of a light yellowish hue, dotted and blotched with reddish at the 

 larger end. It raises two broods in a season in Virginia and Pennsylvania, 

 but rarely more than one in the Northern States. By the middle of Au- 

 gust the young are abroad ; and it is then that the birds seem more in- 

 clined to remove from the interior of the forest. 



Although less pugnacious than the larger Flycatchers, it is yet very 

 apt to take offence when any other bird approaches its stand, or appears 

 near its nest. 



In its ordinary flight the Wood Pewee passes through the gloom of 

 tlie forest, at a small elevation, in a horizontal direction, moving the wings 

 rapidly, and sweeping suddenly to the right or left, or darting upwards, 

 after its prey, with the most perfect ease. During the love season, it of- 

 ten flies, with a vibratory motion of the wings, so very slowly that one 

 might suppose it about to poise itself in the air. On such occasions its 

 notes are guttural, and are continued for several seconds as a low twitter. 



