WOOD PEWEE. 425 



twelfths long, 5 twelfths broad, considerably compressed, the lateral 

 muscles distinct and of moderate size, the lower very thin ; the epi- 

 thelium thin, tough, longitudinally rugous, brownish-red. The sto- 

 mach filled with insects. The intestine is 6^ inches long, from 1| 

 twelfth to 1 twelfth in width ; the cceca 1^ twelfth long, ^ twelfth 

 broad, 1 inch distant from the extremity ; the rectum gradually dilates 

 into an ovate cloaca. 



The trachea is 1 inch 7 twelfths long, from 1 twelfth to | twelfth 

 in breadth, considerably flattened ; the rings 78, with 2 additional di- 

 midiate rings. The bronchi are of moderate length, with 12 half rings. 

 The lateral muscles are very slender, as are the sterno-tracheales ; the 

 inferior laryngeal are very small, and seem to form only a single pair. 



WOOD PEWEE. 



Muse I CAP A VIRENS, LiNN. 

 PLATE CXV. Vol. II. p. 93. 



Although the Wood Pewee is common in Labrador and Newfound- 

 land, as well as on the Rocky Mountains and along the Columbia 

 River, it does not appear to have been seen in the Fur Countries. I 

 have met with it abundantly in the Texas, where it breeds, as it does 

 in all suitable localities in the United States. The following notes 

 have been sent to me by my friend Dr T. M. Brewer of Boston. 



" As you have informed me that some naturalists have doubted the 

 truth of the assertion that the materials of the nest of the Wood Pewee 

 are glued to the branch with saliva, assigning as a reason for their 

 scepticism, that the nest being always built on the dead limb, it woul 

 be necessarily exposed to continual or occasional rains, which would 

 not fail to dissolve the cement and thus destroy it, if it depended on 

 that fastening alone. This objection, however plausible, is not valid. 

 I have taken particular pains to ascertain the fact, and, although I 

 have never actually seen the gluey substance applied by the bird itself 

 I have yet no doubt that your conjectures are correct. That the sa- 

 liva is soluble in water, and that should the nest be exposed to a heavy 

 rain it would be washed off is true. Yet this is seldom the case ; and 



