WOOD PEWEE FLYCATCHER. 
63 
on every feather, with yellowish white, the latter forked, 
and widening remarkably towards the end ; bill, formed 
exactly like that of the king bird ; whole lower parts, 
a pale delicate yellow ; legs and bill, wholly black ; iris, 
hazel. The female is almost exactly like the male, 
except in having the crest somewhat more brown. 
This species inhabits from Canada to Florida; great 
numbers of them usually wintering in the two Caro- 
linas and Georgia. In New York, they are called the 
phoeby bird, and are accused of destroying bees. With 
many people in the country, the arrival of the pewee 
serves as a sort of almanack, reminding them that 
now it is time such and such work should be done. 
“ Whenever the pewit appears,” says Mr Bartram, “ we 
may plant peas and beans in the open grounds, French 
beans, sow radishes, onions, and almost every kind of 
esculent garden seeds, without fear or danger from 
frosts; for, although we have sometimes frosts after 
their first appearance for a night or two, yet not so 
severe as to injure the young plants.”* 
78. MUSCICAPA RAPAX, WILSON. — M. VIRENS, LINNAEUS. 
WOOD PEWEE FLYCATCHER. 
I have given the name of wood pewee to this species, 
to discriminate it from the preceding, which it resem- 
bles 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 underwood, and abundance of dead twigs 
* Travels , p. 288. 
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