BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
193 
No. 
Date. 
Locality. 
Food-Materials. 
1 
Mar. 31, 1880. . . . 
New Castle county, Del 
Beetles, 
2 
Mar. 31, 1880, . . . 
New Castle county, Del 
Purple colored insects (diptera). 
3 
Mar. 31, 1880, . . . 
New Castle county, Del 
Various insects (principally diptera). 
4 
Sept. 11, 1880, . . . 
Bast Bradford, Pa 
Flies and remains of beetles. 
5 
Oct. 2, 1880, . . . 
Bast Bradford, Pa 
Beetles and small flies. 
0 
Oct. 4, 1880, . . . 
Bast Bradford, Pa 
Flies and small bei’ries. 
r 
Oct. 6, 1880. . . . 
Willistown, Pa 
Flies and beetles.* 
8 
Oct. 6, 1880. . . . 
Willistown, Pa. 
Small worms and remains of beetles.*. 
9 
Oct. 6, 1880, . . . 
Willistown, Pa., 
Grasshoppers and flies.* 
10 
Oct. 6, 1880, . . . 
Willistown, Pa 
Sevei'al large yellow wasp-like insects.* 
11 
Oct. 6, 1880, . . . 
Willistown, Pa 
Numerous flies. * 
12 
Oct. 7, 1880, . . . 
Willistown, Pa 
Large wasp-like insect.* 
13 
Oct. 7, 1880, . . . 
Willistown, Pa 
Large wasp-like insect. * 
14 
Sept. 30, 1882, . . . 
Chester county. Pa 
Beetles, grasshoppers and crickets. 
15 
Sept. 30, 1882, . . . 
Chester county. Pa 
Beetles and flies. 
16 
Sept. 30, 1882, . . . 
Chester county. Pa. 
Grasshoppers and few beetles. 
Genus CONTOPUS Cabanis. 
Contopus Virens (Linn.). 
Wood Pewee. 
Description {Plate 91). 
Length about 6| inches ; extent about 10 ; above dusky brownish-olive, darkest on 
head ; sides of head, neck and breast similar, but much paler on breast ; lower parts 
light-yellowish, the latter most conspicuous on middle of belly ; narrow white ring 
around eye ; two white wing bars ; upper mandible blackish, lower yellow (in young 
lower mandible is dusky). The young are duller in plumage and whitish mark- 
ings on wings, as well as feathers of upper parts, more or less edged with pale rusty. 
Habitat . — Eastern ISTorth America to the plains, and from southern Canada south- 
ward. 
The Wood Pewee, a common summer resident, arrives in Pennsjdva- 
nia early in May and continues with us until about September 20. This 
bird is found commonly in forests or the shady retreats of apple or- 
chards. During- the breeding- season, particularly, the Wood Pewee 
when perched on the dead branches of trees, watching- for his insect 
prey, utters a peculiar plaintive drawling note — '' pe-a-ioee, a-pee-toe'e !’' — 
which once heard is rarely forgotten. A writer has very properly said 
that these notes in the latter part of the summer are almost the only 
ones heard in the woods. The thin-bottomed, thick-walled and somewhat 
saucer-shaped nest, built usually on a thick, horizontal tree limb, is 
composed, internally, of grass stems, fine fibers of roots or other soft 
substances, and covered externally with lichens, which are held in place 
by cobwebs or “glued to the other materials by the birds saliva.” The 
eggs, four or five in number, are yellowish-white, with reddish-brown 
and lilac spots, generally in a ring about the larger end. They measure 
about .75 of an inch in length, and a little over .50 of an inch in width. 
I have never found Wood Pewees feeding on small fruits, but have 
always observed that they feed exclusively on insects. Audubon, how- 
ever, states, during- the winter months, he has observed these birds in 
18 Bikds. 
* Taken in the mornings’ feeding near a pond. 
