PHCEBE 219 



April 6, 1856. Just beyond Wood's Bridge, I hear 

 the pewee. With what confidence after the lapse of 

 many months, I come out to this waterside, some warm 

 and pleasant spring morning, and, listening, hear, from 

 farther or nearer, through the still concave of the air, 

 the note of the first pewee ! If there is one within half 

 a mile, it will be here, and I shall be sure to hear its 

 simple notes from those trees, borne over the water. 

 It is remarkable how large a mansion of the air you 

 can explore with your ears in the still morning by the 

 waterside. 



April 1, 1859. At the Pokelogan 1 up the Assabet, 

 I see my first phcebe, the mild bird.' It flirts its tail 

 and sings pre vit, pre vit, pre vit, pre vit incessantly, 

 as it sits over the water, and then at last, rising on the 

 last syllable, says pre-YEE, as if insisting on that with 

 peculiar emphasis. 



May 5, 1860. See at Lee's a pewee (phoebe) build- 

 ing. She has just woven in, or laid on the edge, a fresh 

 sprig of saxifrage in flower. I notice that phcebes will 

 build in the same recess in a cliff year after year. It 

 is a constant thing here, though they are often dis- 

 turbed. Think how many pewees must have built 

 under the eaves of this_ cliff since pewees were created 

 and this cliff itself built! You can possibly find the 



1 [A term evidently imported by Thoreau from Maine, where he 

 learned it from the loggers and Indians. It is used to signify a little 

 bay in the river-shore which leads nowhere and is perhaps derived 

 from " poke " (= pouch or pocket) and " logan," a bay-like inlet to the 

 river. "Logan" is supposed to be a corruption of the word "lagoon. 7 ' 

 Thoreau supposed " pokelogan " to be an Indian word, but his Indian 

 guide told him there was " no Indian in 'em."] 



