The Lay of the Band 
Mr. Chapman’s authority, the five rarer members 
perform as follows: the olive-sided swoops from the 
tops of the tallest trees uttering “pu-pu” or “pu- 
pip”; the yellow-bellied sits upon the low twigs and 
sneezes a song, an abrupt “pse-ek,” explosive and 
harsh, produced with a painful, convulsive jerk; the 
Acadian by the help of his tail says “spee” or 
“‘peet,” now and then a loud “ pee-e-yuk,” meanwhile 
trembling violently; Trail’s flycatcher jerks out his 
notes rapidly, doubling himself up and fairly vibrat- 
ing with the explosive effort to sing “ee-zee-e-up” ; 
the gray kingbird says a strong, simple “ pitirri.” 
It would make a good minstrel show, doubtless, if 
the family would appear together. In chorus, surely, 
they would be far from a tuneful choir. 
I should hate to hear the flycatchers all together. 
Yet individually, in the wide universal chorus of the 
out-of-doors, how much we should miss the king- 
bird’s metallic twitter and the chebec’s insistent call! 
There was little excitement for phoebe during this 
period of incubation. He hunted in the neighborhood 
and occasionally called to his mate, contented enough 
perhaps, but certainly sometimes appearing tired. 
One rainy day he sat in the pig-pen window looking 
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