THE WOOD PEWEE. 



( Co n top US virens. ) 



"Dear bird," I said, "What is thy name?" 

 And thrice the mournful answer came. 

 So faint and far, and yet so near, — 

 •'Pe-wee! pe-wee ! peer!" 



For so I found my forest bird, — 



The pewee of the loneliest woods, 



Sole singer in these solitudes, 

 Which never robin's whistle stirred, 



Where never bluebird's plume intrudes. 



— J. T. Trowbridge, "The Pewee. 



While the Wood Pewees seem to 

 prefer the solitude of our deeper for- 

 ests they will, at times frequent and 

 even nest in orchards which contain 

 large spreading- trees. Occasionally 

 they may be seen searching for their 

 insect-food among the shade trees of 

 villages and the trees of the larger 

 city parks. Large and ample trees are 

 a necessary part of the environment 

 of these birds, for they belong to one 

 of the few species which are shade-lov- 

 ing. The Pewees are not well-known 

 for their plain plumage and undemon- 

 strative ways do not readily attract 

 the attention of others than the careful 

 observers of bird-life. Their plaintive 

 and pensive notes, which are a most 

 characteristic sound, are usually the 

 first indication of their presence in 

 one's vicinity. It is a familiar voice 

 to those who frequent the woods of 

 the Pewees' range. Pee-a-wee, pee-a- 

 wee is the sweet but monotonous song 

 which is in perfect harmony with the 

 quiet solitude of their forest home. 

 They seek solitude and they do not 

 seem to care to associate with birds 

 of either their own or other species. 

 However, their sad notes are not de- 

 pressing and the Pewees seem to be of 

 a most happy disposition. They sing 

 all day long, from the appearance of 

 dawn often until late in the evening. 

 Often his quiet, sweet-toned voice may 

 be heard in the stillness of midnight, 

 apparently humming a greeting to his 

 mate upon the nest. Even during the 

 summer heat of noontime its voice is 



heard, and "the clear sympathetic notes 

 of the retiring songster come from the 

 green canopy overhead, in perfect har- 

 mony with the peace and stillness of 

 the hour." The words of Mr. Chap- 

 man well express the views of all who 

 have studied the Pewee from the 

 standpoint of a lover of the harmony 

 in Nature. "His pensive, gentle ways 

 are voiced by his sad, sweet call : The 

 notes are as musical and restful, as 

 much a part of Nature's hymn, as the 

 soft humming of a brook." 



The range of the Wood Pewees ex- 

 tends east of the Great Plains, from 

 southern Canada southward. They nest 

 from Florida, northward to the limits 

 of their range, and at the approach 

 of cold weather they migrate south- 

 ward through eastern Mexico and 

 Honduras to Ecuador. 



Their nests are beautiful and com- 

 pact structures of which the floors are 

 thin and the sides are quite thick and 

 not very high. Mr. Dawson speaks of 

 the Pewee's nest as "One of the most 

 sightly and romantic structures which 

 an ingenious Nature has evolved." Dr. 

 Brewer speaks of it as "extremely 

 beautiful, rivaling even the artistic 

 nests of the hummingbird." Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway has called it "one of the 

 most elegant examples of bird archi- 

 tecture." The nests are always built 

 upon a horizontal branch upon which 

 they are usually saddled, though some- 

 times they are placed in a fork. They 

 are frequently built at a considerable 

 distance from the trunk of the tree 



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