THE WOOD-PEWEE. 131 



Most birds fall occasionally into a kind of ecstasy 

 of song, and the wood-pewee is no- exception. One 

 evening, after it had grown almost dark, a pewee 

 flew out into the air directly above my head from 

 a tree by the wayside, and began to sing in a per- 

 fect transport as he wheeled about ; then he swung 

 back into the tree, keeping up his song in a con- 

 tinuous strain, and in sweet, half- caressing tones, 

 until finally it died away, as if the bird had fallen 

 into a doze during his vocal recital. I lingered 

 about for some time, but he did not sing again- 

 Why should he repeat his good-night song? 



I have frequently heard young pewees in mid- 

 summer singing in a continuous way, instead of 

 whistling the intermittent song .of their elders. It 

 sounds very droll, giving you the impression that 

 the little neophyte has begun to turn the crank of 

 his music-box and can't stop. His voice is quite 

 sweet, but his execution is very crude. Wait, 

 however, until he is eight or nine months older, 

 and he will show you what a winged Orpheus can 

 do. My notes say that on the thirtieth of July, 

 189 1, I heard a " pewee's quaint, prolonged whistle, 

 interlarded with his ordinary notes." Thus it will 

 be seen that he is a somewhat versatile songster, 

 proving the poet's lines half true and half untrue : — 



" The birds but repeat without ending 

 •The same old traditional notes, 

 Which some, by more happily blending, 

 Seem to make over new in their throats." 



