290 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



amidst the extensive forest regions of the Adirondack^ and similar tracts. The 

 trees most frequently selected for nesting are oak, elm, ash, maple, hickory, pine, 

 locust, poplar, cedar, and apple, the nests being placed from 5 to 50 feet from 

 the ground, ordinarily from 12 to 20 feet up. These are rather neat and hand- 

 some structures, consisting generally of thick side walls and very thin bottoms; 

 they are sometimes securely saddled on a horizontal limb, but more frequently 

 at the point of juncture of a fork on the same, and generally some distance out 

 from the main trunk. According to my observations, decayed moss and lichen 

 covered limbs, growing out horizontally from the trunk, appear to be their 

 favorite nesting sites, but many of their nests are built on live limbs, especially 

 in oak, locust, and old apple trees. The nest is not readily discovered on 

 account of its peculiar construction giving it the appearance of a knot, and the 

 bird is exceedingly alert and usually slips off before one sees her, and, although 

 she remains close by, flying from place to place and uttering her plaintive calls, 

 she will not reveal its location by returning to it while the intruder is in the 

 neighborhood. 



Mr. J. W. Preston, of Baxter, Iowa, writes me: "A pair of Wood Pewees 

 built on a horizontal branch, 12 feet above a path over which I traveled several 

 times each day, and, though the female became more and more accustomed to 

 my presence, she never remained on the nest while I passed. She would fly to 

 a certain dead snag and peer down on me with her large eyes; but the young, 

 after leaving the nest, became quite tame." 



Fine grasses, small pieces of moss, thin strips of bark, rootlets, and plant 

 fibers constitute the body of the nest, which is coated externally with bits of 

 lichens found on rotten limbs, and which are fastened to its sides with spider 

 webs and cocoons, similar to those of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Ruby- 

 throated Hummingbird. All the different materials are well interwoven, and 

 the inner cup of the nest is usually lined with finer materials of the same kind, 

 and occasionally with a little wool, down of plants, a few horsehairs, and bits of 

 thread. An average and typical nest of the Wood Pewee measures 2|- inches 

 in outer diameter by If inches in depth; the inner cup is about If inches wide 

 by 1J inches deep. 



Mr. J. L. Davison, of Lockport, New York, kindly sent me for examination 

 a unique nest of this species, taken by him from a horizontal limb of an apple 

 tree, about 8 feet from the ground, which well deserves mention. This nest, 

 which is well preserved, is exteriorly composed entirely of wool. It measures 2£ 

 inches in outer diameter by 2| inches in depth; the inner cup is If inches wide 

 by 1 inch deep. It is very sparingly lined with fine grass tops and a few horse- 

 hairs, while a single well-preserved apple leaf lies perfectly flat and exactly in the 

 center and bottom of the nest. It contained three eggs when taken, and bears 

 not the slightest resemblance to any other nest of this species I have ever seen. 



I believe that ordinarily but a single brood is raised in a season; but there 

 are probably exceptions, as Mr. Frank H. Hitchcock informs me that at Somer- 

 ville, Massachusetts, on September 8, 1890, he found a pair of Wood Pewees 



