





'a*t 



AMERICAN OSPREY. 



/ 



VOL. I. 



ASHLAND, KY., NOVEMBER, 1890. 



NO. 11. 



BIRD STUDIES.- 



THE PEWEE. 



VII. 



The Pewee belongs to one of the most 

 strongly marked families of birds, the 

 T3 r rant Flycatchers. Allowing for certain 

 differences in size and color, the mem- 

 bers of this family all look alike, being, 

 as Burroughs says: "Sharp-shouldered, 

 big-headed, short-legged, of no particu- 

 lar color and of little elegance of flight 

 or movement." And yet, after these 

 rather unkind things have been said, 

 the birds still have some redeeming 

 qualities; certain days in early spring 

 would lose half their charm if the voice 

 of the Pewee was not heard coming 

 across the fields from the ridge of the 

 old barn. 



The Pewee is the first of his family to 

 arrive in spring, sometimes appearing 

 in this locality as early as the last week 

 in March. Although subsisting entirely 

 on insects, he conies when there is seem- 

 ingly not an insect about. And just 

 here, I want to disclose a secret: He 

 does not take up his abode around barns 

 and bridges immediately upon his ar- 

 rival, but loiters about the woods till in- 

 sects become plenty. In this situation 

 he does not seem like the same bird, but 

 is shyer and less demure. 



From long intercourse with man the 

 Pewee has become quite domesticated, 

 though the degree of domestication 

 varies with different individuals. While 

 most are content to dwell about barns 

 and other out-buildings, others still 

 cling to their primitive life in rocky 

 woods, building their mossy nests on 

 some convenient ledge. 



In tin- matter of nest-building those 



birds which have taken up their resi- 

 dence about bridges and in barns have 

 made no change except to substitute a 

 lining of horse or cow's hair for the an- 

 cient one of moss, the outside remains 

 the same. The eggs are usually four or 

 five, white in color, sometimes sparingly 

 speckled. The Cow-bird not infre- 

 quently contributes one or more eggs to 

 the original set. 



In spring as one traverses the woods, 

 the plaintive call of the Pewee is borne 

 to his ear blended with the roar of every 

 little water-fall. With a slight effort of 

 the imagination one may fancy the 

 Naiads to still exist in these sylvan re- 

 treats, and, clad in the sober garments 

 of the Pewee, guard their favorite 

 streams as of old. 



TRAILL'S FLYCATCHER. 



Asa companion-piece to Mr. Smith- 

 wick's "Acadian Flycatcher" of the last 

 Osprey, a short description of the 

 Traill's Flycatcher may not be amiss. 



Here, the two are as close companions 

 as the difference in nesting sites will al- 

 low, and where you find the nest of the 

 Acadian, hung from some slender limb, 

 in the same woods you may expect to 

 find (providing there is underbrush) the 

 nest of the Traill's Flycatcher in the 

 fork of some slender sappling. 



In size the Traill's Flycatcher is not 

 much different from the Acadian. It 

 has two varieties of alarm notes which 

 jire not so easy to describe as that of 

 Acadicus. 



The nesting season is a little Inter than 

 that of the Acadian, hegining here nboHl 

 the first of July. The nests which I have 

 (< 'on tin (lei! on I'd page.} 



