THE WOOD PEWEE. 
238 
The nest of the Wood Pewee is as delicate in its form and structure, as 
the bird is in the choice of the materials which it uses in its construction. 
. In almost every case, I have found it well fastened to the upper part of a 
horizontal branch, without any apparent preference being given to particular 
trees. Were it not that the bird generally discloses its situation, it would 
be difficult to discover it, for it is shallow, well saddled to the branch, and 
connected with it by an extension of the lichens forming its outer coat, in 
such a manner as to induce a person seeing it to suppose it merely a swelling 
of the branch. These lichens are glued together apparently by the saliva of 
the bird, and are neatly lined with very fine grasses, the bark of vines, and 
now and then a few horse-hairs. The eggs are four or five, of a light 
yellowish hue, dotted and blotched with reddish at the larger end. It raises 
two broods in a season in Virginia .and Pennsylvania, but rarely more than 
one in the Northern States. By the middle of August the young are abroad ; 
and it is then that the birds seem more inclined to remove from the interior 
of the forest. 
Although less pugnacious than the larger Flycatchers, it is yet very apt 
to take offence when any other bird approaches its stand, or appears near its 
nest. 
In its ordinary flight the Wood Pewee passes through the gloom of the 
forest, at a small elevation, in a horizontal direction, moving the wings 
rapidly, and sweeping suddenly to the right or left, or darting upwards, after 
its prey, with the most perfect ease. During the love season, it often flies, 
with a vibratory motion of the wings, so very slowly that one might suppose 
it about to poise itself in the air. On such occasions its notes are guttural, 
and are continued for several seconds as a low twitter. 
Although the Wood Pewee is found in Labrador and Newfoundland, as 
well as on the Rocky Mountains and along the Columbia river, it does not 
appear to have been seen in the Fur Countries. I have met with it abun- 
dantly in the Texas, where it breeds, as it does in .all suitable localities in 
the United States. 
The egg measures five-eighths of an inch in length, and nine-sixteenths in 
breadth. The vividness of thh red markings varies considerably. 
Wood Pewee, Muscicapa rapax, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. ii. p. 81. 
Wood Pewee, Muscicapa virens, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 285. 
Muscicapa virens, Bonap. Syn., p. 68. 
Wood Pewee, Muscicapa virens , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 93 ; vol. v. p. 425. 
Slightly crested; second quill longest, first shorter than third and longer 
than sixth ; tail deeply emarginate : upper parts dusky olive, upper part of 
