THE WOOD-PEWEE. 127 



XI. 



THE WOOD-PEWEE. 



A MONOGRAPH. 



ALMOST every person living in the country or 

 the suburbs of a town is familiar with the 

 house-pewee, or phoebe-bird. It is usually looked 

 upon as the sure harbinger of spring. In my boy- 

 hood days my parents aud grandparents were wont 

 to say, " Spring is here ; the phoebe is singing." 

 And if blithesomeness of tone and good cheer have 

 anything to do with the advent of the season of 

 song and bursting blossoms, the pewit, as he is 

 often called, must be a true herald and prophet. 

 He seems to carry the "subtle essence of spring" 

 in his tuneful larynx, and in the graceful sweep of 

 his flight as he pounces upon an insect. It is quite 

 easy to make the transition from his familiar song of 

 Phe-e-by to the exclamation. Spring 's here 1 by a 

 little stretch of the fancy. 



But the phoebe has a woodland relative, a first 

 cousin, with which most persons are not so well 

 acquainted, because he is more retiring in his habits, 

 and seeks out-of the-way places for his habitat. I 

 tefer to the wood-pewee. If your eyes and ears are 

 not so sharp as they should be, you may get these 



