232 
WOOD PEWEE FLYCATCHER. 
WOOD PEWEE FLYCATCHER.— MUSCICAPA RAPAX. 
Plate XIII. Fig. 5. 
Muscicapa virens, Linn. Syst. 327 Lath. Syn. ii. 350. Id. Sup. p. 174, No. 
82 Catesb. i. 54, fig. 1 Le Gobe-mouche brun de la Caroline, Luff. iv. 543. 
— Muscicapa acadica, Gmel. Syst. i. p. 947 Arct. Zool. 387, No. 270. — 
Peale's Museum, No. 6660. 
TYRANNULA VIRENS.— Jar dine. 
Muscicapa virens, Linn. Syst. — Bonap. Synop. p. 68. 
I have given the name Wood Pewee to this species, to 
discriminate it from the preceding, which it resembles so much 
in form and plumage as scarcely to be distinguished from it, 
but by an accurate examination of both. Yet in manners, 
mode of building, period of migration, and notes, the two 
species differ greatly. The Pewee is among the first birds that 
visit us in spring, frequenting creeks, building in caves, and 
under arches of bridges ; the Wood Pewee, the subject of our 
present account, is among the latest of our summer birds, 
seldom arriving before the 12th or 15th of May,* frequenting 
the shadiest high timbered woods, where there is little under- 
wood, and abundance of dead twigs and branches shooting 
across the gloom ; generally in low situations ; builds its nest 
on the upper side of a limb or branch, forming it outwardly 
of moss, but using no mud, and lining it with various soft 
materials. The female lays five white eggs ; and the first 
brood leave the nest about the middle of June. 
This species is an exceeding expert fly-catcher. It loves to 
sit on the high dead branches, amid the gloom of the woods, 
calling out in a feeble plaintive tone, peto way , peto way , pee 
wap ; occasionally darting after insects ; sometimes making a 
circular sweep of thirty or forty yards, snapping up numbers in 
its way with great adroitness ; and returning to its position and 
chant as before. In the latter part of August, its notes are 
almost the only ones to be heard in the woods ; about which 
