WOOD PEWEE 223 



These nests remind me of what I suppose to be the 

 yellow-throat vireo's and hummingbird's. The lining of 

 a nest is not in good condition — perhaps is partly gone 

 — when the birds have done with it. 



Aug. 14, 1858. The more characteristic notes [of 

 late] would appear to be the wood pewee's and the 

 goldfinch's, with the squeal of young hawks. These 

 might be called the pewee-days. 



Aug. 18, 1858. I sit under the oaks at the east end 

 of Hubbard's Grove, and hear two wood pewees sing- 

 ing close by. They are perched on dead oak twigs four 

 or five rods apart, and their notes are so exactly alike 

 that at first I thought there was but one. One appeared 

 to answer the other, and sometimes they both sung to- 

 gether, — even as if the old were teaching her young. 

 It was not the usual spring note of this bird, but a 

 simple, clear pe-e-eet, rising steadily with one impulse 

 to the end. They were undistinguishable in tone and 

 rhythm, though one which I thought might be the 

 young was feebler. In the meanwhile, as it was perched 

 on the twig, it was incessantly turning its head about, 

 looking for insects, and suddenly would dart aside or 

 downward a rod or two, and I could hear its bill snap 

 as it caught one. Then it returned to the same or an- 

 other perch. 



