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 
perhaps you will become convinced, as I am at this moment, that to this 
propensity 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 
unproductive, 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 contained the embi-yo of a bird partly dried up, with its vertebrae 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 liglit 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 exertions 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 woods, 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 parts of sheds erected for the 
