230 
PEWIT FLYCATCHER. 
mud, mixed with moss, is generally large and solid, and lined 
with flax and horse hair. The eggs are five, pure white, 
with two or three dots of red near the great end, (see fig. 4.) 
I have known them rear three broods in one season. 
In a particular part of Mr Bartram’s woods, with which I 
am acquainted, by the side of a small stream, in a cave, five or 
six feet high, formed by the undermining of the water below, 
and the projection of two large rocks above, — 
There down smooth glist’ning rocks the rivulet pours, 
Till in a pool its silent waters sleep, 
A dark brow’d cliff, o’ertopp’d with fern and flowers, 
Hangs, grimly low’ring, o’er the glassy deep ; 
Above through every chink the woodbines creep, 
And smooth-bark’d beeches spread their arms around, 
Whose roots cling twisted round the rocky steep ; 
A more sequester’d scene is no where found, 
For contemplation deep, and silent thought profound, — 
in this cave I knew the Pewit to build for several years. 
The place was solitary, and he was seldom disturbed. In the 
month of April, one fatal Saturday, a party of boys from the 
city, armed with guns, dealing indiscriminate destruction 
among the feathered tribes around them, directed their mur- 
derous course this way, and, within my hearing, destroyed 
both parents of this old and peaceful settlement. For two 
successive years, and I believe to this day, there has been no 
Pewee seen about this place. This circumstance almost 
convinces me, that birds, in many instances, return to the 
same spots to breed; and who knows, but, like the savage 
nations of Indians, they may usurp a kind of exclusive right 
of tenure to particular districts, where they themselves have 
been reared ? 
The notes of the Pewee, like those of the Blue Bird, are 
not to be mistaken. In one instance our Flycatcher and the Tyrannulce 
disagree ; the former possess no pleasing notes, its only cries are a single, 
rather harsh and monotonous click and a shrill 'peep. The song of the 
Tyrannulce is “ simple,” but “ lively.” — Ed. 
