94 FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



who has 

 is the 



leaf near by. The " ching a-wee, cher-wee, wee— ! " 

 quite as often ends abruptly as otherwise, and there 

 is one less insect in the shrubbery. 



A still more mysterious singer in the wildwood, 

 one who sings along with the hermit thrush and 

 ever evaded my watchful eyes, 

 wood pewee {Contopus virens). 

 I have seen fifty thrushes to one 

 pewee, and yet have heard both 

 singing at the same time and in 

 the same wood. At last, in the 

 past season, I saw the pewee : a 

 plainly attired little creature, with 

 rusty black back and gray-white 

 breast. There he was, on a sprig of the gray birch, 

 calling his mate, as usual, with " Sally, come here ! 



The Wood 

 Pewee. 



H- 



el' 



but musically, 

 thus : 



^ 



^ 



ooUy come here Here! 



It is the most musical of calls, full of suggestive- 

 ness, and quite as much a part of the spring orchestra 

 as the peep of the Ilyla. But the most remarkable 

 part of it is the long-drawn-out "H-e-r-e!" which 

 might just as well be translated ""Whi-e-e-eu ! " It is 

 a whistle rapidly descending the scale, precisely like 

 the whistle of painful surprise one makes when one's 

 " best corn " is trodden on. In the case of the bird 



