WOOD PEWEE. 
285 
Mr. Cooper, by letter, has obligingly informed me, that Prince 
Musignano, thinks this bird may be described by Pennant. His 
dusky Flycatcher, is evidently, our Phebe, the M. atra of Ganelin. 
M.fusca does not essentially differ from that species, either accord- 
ing to Catesby’s bad figure, or Brisson’s exact description ; in both au- 
thors the bill is black, and the tail long, circumstances wanting in 
our bird. I have therefore dedicated it to our friend who tells me 
that the appropriate name we had mutually thought of, M. inornata, 
is already given to the East India species. 
WOOD PEWEE. 
(Muscicapa virens, Lin. M. rap ax , Wilson, ii. p. 81. pi. 13. fig. 5. 
Philad. Museum, No. 6660.) 
Sp. Charact. — Dusky brownish-olive, beneath pale yellowish ; bill 
black, beneath dilute yellow ; 2d primary longest ; 1st much 
shorter than the 3d and longer than the 6th. 
This species has much the appearance of the Common 
Pewee, or Phebe, but differs essentially by its note and 
habits. The Wood Pewee appears to winter south of the 
United States, and scarcely arrives in Pennsylvania or 
New England before the middle of May ; its migrations, 
in all probability, extend to Canada. It is a solitary 
species, frequenting gloomy forests, and dark orchards, 
where watching on some dead and projecting branch for 
its insect prey, it sweeps at intervals amidst the shade, and 
the occasional snapping of its bill announces the success 
of its flight. It then again alights as before, sometimes ut- 
tering a sort of gratulatory low twitter, accompanied by a 
quivering of the wings and tail, and in the lapse of its em- 
ployment, in a feeble, sighing tone, often cries pee-wee or 
pee-e , and sometimes pe-wee pewitt it ee or pewittee pe-wee. 
This note is continued often till quite late in the evening, 
at which time many of the insect brood and moths are 
abundant. Most of these birds, indeed, appear capable 
of collecting their food by the feeblest light, the only 
