426 WOOD PEWEE. 



why ? for the smiplest reason, that the nest, although built on a bare 

 and lifeless limb, is uniformly protected from the rain by the over- 

 hanging branches of the tree. I once took the pains to watch one of 

 these nests, which was placed on the dead limb of a walnut, during a 

 heavy thunder-storm, and though the rain poured down in torrents, I 

 could not perceive that a single drop had fallen on the nest. This pro- 

 tection does not always prove sufficient, for the nest is sometimes ac- 

 tually washed away. I have never known an instance in which one of 

 these nests was built without this defence against the rain, although a 

 strong wind, by giving the drops an inclined instead of a perpendicu- 

 lar direction, will render it no protection. It appears to me, therefore, 

 that the objections to your statement seem rather to strengthen than 

 to weaken its probability. I have little to add to the history of this 

 bird. The egg measures five-eighths of an inch in length, and nine- 

 sixteenths in breadth. The vividness of the red markings varies con- 

 siderably. 



The structure of the mouth is the same as that of the Common 

 Pewee. The tongue is 4^ twelfths long, its point very narrow and slit. 

 The oesophagus is 1 inch 11 twelfths long, its average width li twelfth. 

 The stomach is ^ inch long, 5^ twelfths broad, and of the same struc- 

 ture. The intestine is 5 inches long, from 2 twelfths to 1 twelfth in 

 width ; the coeca 1| twelfth, and ^ twelfth broad. There are salivary 

 glands, with three ducts as in the preceding species. The trachea is 

 1 inch 5 twelfths long, its rings about 75, and 2 terminal dimidiate 

 rings. The muscles are as in the other species, but the inferior laryn- 

 geal are larger. The bronchi have about 12 half rings. 



TRAILL'S FLYCATCHER. 



Muse I CAP A Traill 1 1. 



PLATE XLV. Vol.. I. p. 236. 



Many specimens of this Flycatcher have been procured by Dr 

 TowNSEND about the Columbia River, several of which are still in my 

 possession, after giving one to the Prince of Musignano, who had not 

 seen one before, and another to the Earl of Derby. Nothing has tran- 

 spired respecting its habits since the publication of my first volume. 



