53

1916.

83. Wood Pewee. Within the boundaries of our lands at Concord the
Wood Pewee nested regularly, not so very long ago, in half-a-dozen
or more retired woodland places, as well as in the big elms that shade
our dooryard, but has since deserted one after another of these ancestral 
haunts, probably because so many of the larger oaks & other forest trees
have been destroyed by Gypsy & Brown-tailed moths. Last year only
a single bird was noted but he favored us delightfully by singing
daily, from May 24 [May 24, 1916] to the close of June, close about the house.
Either he or another with similarly pleasing voice reappeared there this
season on May 25 [May 25, 1916] after which I found him very frequently up to July 7 [July 7, 1916], sometimes
near the house, oftener in the Run just below Cedar Park or in the
pine woods north of Pulpit Rock, occasionally in or about Birch Field.
Being thus apparently given to wandering somewhat widely he was
presumably without mate or nest, but there may, after all, have [been]
more than a single bird and, indeed, certainly were two on 
June 19 [June 19, 1916] for I then heard one just behind our house immediately
after hearing the other singing hundreds of yards away in the Run.
  Elsewhere the species was noted by me only twice this year
- in woodland bordering the old Bigelow Road, on May 28 [May 28, 1916] and near
Dudley Pitman's place in Billerica, on June 4 [June 4, 1916].

84. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Heard one on May 21 [May 21, 1916] - an early date of
arrival - in dense, swampy covert near the head of our Run, where
a small flock of migratory Warblers had also congregated. The Flycatcher
uttered its listless pee-e call repeatedly & less often its che-lat song notes,
thereby establishing its identity as well as presence, for I failed to set eyes on it.

85. Alder Flycatcher. An unseen bird calling pip incessantly for several
minutes about 3 P. M., on May 26 [May 26, 1916], in dense thicket bordering brook
that flows through our Berry Pasture.