Plate X. 
SAYOR/V/S FUSCUS— Pewit Flycatcher. 
The Pewit Flycatcher comes from the south about, the first of April ; occasionally a straggler is 
seen in February. After resting a few clays from the fatigue of the long journey (during which time 
the female arrives), the male proclaims spring with his familiar pe-ivee pe-iuee, phe-be phe-be. In favor- 
able seasons, nest-building commences early in May; two, and sometimes three, sets of eggs are hatched 
by the mother-bird, the tedium of the sitting being perhaps somewhat lightened by the cool, contented 
notes which her mate encouragingly utters from some favorite stand near-by, at short intervals through- 
out the summer days. 
LOCALITY : 
Rocky cliffs, walls of shallow caves, upturned roots, fallen trunks of trees, and similar places, about 
lakes, ponds, rivers, and small streams, were their primitive nesting localities. But so many desirable 
and safe situations have resulted from the necessities of civilization, that these birds have quite gener- 
ally deserted their former sites, still retaining, however, to a great extent, their predilection for water 
and water-courses. The majority of nests are now built about spring-houses, water-mills, culverts, bridges, 
and trestle-works; some birds even venture into the large towns, and build upon the capitals of portico 
columns, and about old sheds. In the country, it is a very common occurrence for them to fasten their 
nests above the doors, about the porches, or under the eaves of the houses. 
The typical locality for the nest is a cranny, four or five feet above the water, in the shaly bank 
of a small creek — a damp, lonely spot, where the sun never shines, or, if at all, only for a few minutes 
in the morning or evening— a cranny grown about with moss, which is continually moistened and kept 
green by the drippings from little springs above, and where the rippling sounds of the water, as it 
hurries over its uneven bed, join in sweet harmony with the bird’s pleasant but melancholy tones. 
POSITION : 
The nest is fastened to a flat surface, either horizontally or perpendicularly inclined, or is placed in 
the angle formed by two or three such planes. Its external form accordingly varies ; at one time, it 
resembles an inverted bowl ; at another, it is top-shaped, with a flattened side ; and again, when in an 
angle, it receives the shape of that angle wherever it comes in contact with the planes which compose 
it. Its distance above the ground or water is usually between four and fifteen feet. 
MATERIALS : 
The prime material in the nest is mud ; to this are added fine grasses, rootlets, finely split fibres, and 
small pieces of moss. The exterior is nicely decorated with green moss, amid which may be seen here 
and there the corrugated pellets of mud and pieces of vegetable material. In primeval days, the moss 
was probably used as a means of concealment; now, however, it rather adds to the conspicuousness of 
59 
