THE PEWEE FLYCATCHER. 227 



On some other occasion, I will give you such instances of the return of 

 birds, accompanied by their progeny, to the place of their nativity, that per- 

 haps you will become convinced, as I am at this moment, that to this pro- 

 pensity every country owes the augmentation of new species, whether of 

 birds or of quadrupeds, attracted by the many benefits met with, as countries 

 become more open and better cultivated: but now I will, with your leave, 

 return to the Pewees of the cave. 



On the thirteenth day, the little ones were hatched. One egg was unpro- 

 ductive, and the female, on the second day after the birth of her brood, very 

 deliberately pushed it out of the nest. On examining this egg, I found it 

 containing the embryo of a bird partly dried up, with its vertebra? quite fast 

 to the shell, which had probably occasioned its death. Never have I since 

 so closely witnessed the attention of birds to their young. Their entrance 

 with insects was so frequently repeated, that I thought I saw the little ones 

 grow as I gazed upon them. The old birds no longer looked upon me as an 

 enemy, and would often come in close by me, as if I had been a post. I 

 now took upon me to handle the young frequently; nay, several times I took 

 the whole family out, and blew off the exuviae of the feathers from the nest. 

 I attached light threads to their legs: these they invariably removed, either 

 with their bills, or with the assistance of their parents. I renewed them, 

 however, until I found the little fellows habituated to them; and at last, 

 when they were about to leave the nest, I fixed a light silver thread to the 

 leg of each, loose enough not to hurt the part, but so fastened that no exer- 

 tions of theirs could remove it. 



Sixteen days had passed, when the brood took to wing; and the old birds, 

 dividing the time with caution, began to arrange the nest anew. A second 

 set of eggs were laid, and in the beginning of August a new brood made its 

 appearance. 



The young birds took much to the ^voods, as if feeling themselves more 

 secure there than in the open fields; but before they departed, they all 

 appeared strong, and minded not making long sorties into the open air, over 

 the whole creek, and the fields around it. On the 8th of October, not a 

 Pewee could I find on the plantation: my little companions had all set off on 

 their travels. For weeks afterwards, however, I saw Pewees arriving from 

 the north, and lingering a short time, as if to rest, when they also moved 

 southward. 



At the season when the Pewee returns to Pennsylvania, I had the satis- 

 faction to observe those of the cave in and about it. There again, in the 

 very same nest, two broods were raised. I found several Pewees nests at 

 some distance up the creek, particularly under a bridge, and several others 

 in the adjoining meadows, attached to the inner part of sheds erected for the 



