WOOD PEWEE 



Dark olive-brown above; head very dark; lower parts 

 whitish tinged with yellow; tail and wings dusky; two indis- 

 tinct wing-bars ; slight crest. I^ength, six and one-half inches. 



Nest, saddled on a horizontal branch twenty feet up; 

 composed of twigs and grass, lined with moss, grasses and 

 down, and often covered with lichens. Eggs, three to four, 

 creamy-white with brown spots wreathed about the larger end, 

 .70 X .50 inches. 



The Pewee is a true Flycatcher. Perched on the dead 

 branch of a tree, it waits for a winged insect to come near. 

 Suddenly the bird rises on the wing and dashes off a few feet 

 after a gnat, fly or bug which it captures with a snap of the 

 bill. Turning quickly with a flourish, it is back again on the 

 same perch in a moment. Here it will again settle into a con- 

 dition of seeming indifference to everything about it ; but it is, 

 nevertheless, thoroughly awake, for in the next instant, it is off 

 again for another hapless insect. This feat is repeated many 

 times from the same spot hour after hour. Indeed, when one 

 of these birds has found a branch to its liking, it may perch 

 upon it day after day to w^atch for insects. 



While waiting, it utters a low plaintive cry of pee-a-wee, 

 pee-a-wee, which is long drawn out. This is among the first 

 bird-notes at daybreak and the last at nightfall. Even in the 

 heat of noonday when most other birds are silent, the sweet, 

 sad song of the Pewee is heard. The bird is sometimes found 

 in a shady orchard but its favorite home is the deep woods 

 where it usually nests. 



After wintering in Central America, it is a late migrant, 



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