24 BIRD PARADISE 



of being a real time-saver and perhaps at times 

 robin needs to practice economy in that direction. 



I hear occasionally the plaintive note of the 

 wood pewee. It has little in mere sound to rec- 

 ommend it, but I conclude it carries the heart of 

 the would-be singer, therefore is always valuable. 

 Pewee belongs to the family of the flycatchers — 

 none of them so far as I know noted as the 

 possessor of beauty of person. Sometimes with 

 the birds there is lack of personal attraction that 

 is nicely compensated in great beauty of song, but 

 nothing of the kind appears with pewee. His 

 voice, though clear, is keyed so sharply that it 

 avoids everything musical. Two notes comprise 

 the venture and the very close of the refrain is its 

 best feature. Pewee and his young family are all 

 voracious feeders. All kinds of small insects are 

 viands at his feasting, and his feasting occupies 

 his attention every moment through the day. I 

 notice he has a special fondness for the mosquito 

 and in their season cheerfully appropriates multi- 

 tudes of them every day. While nearly all 

 writers agree that this bird is a migrant — spend- 

 ing his winters in the South, I often hear his call 

 in the winter and frequently see him flitting 



