180 
CONTOPUS VIRENS. 
find a clear illustration of the use of the vocal muscles, they being imperfectly developed 
the bird is incapable of uttering any thing approaching the songs of its better endowed 
neighbors. Rarely, these birds give a harsh cry not unlike some of the sounds produced 
by the Olive-sided Flycatchers. 
I have described the Wood Pewees as inhabiting the deep woods and, although this 
is their frequent custom, they occasionally inhabit orchards, but it is quite rare to find a 
nest on other than a forest tree. The neat domicile of this Flycatcher is one of the prettiest 
among those of our native birds and its covering of lichens renders it quite inconspicuous 
when placed on a limb. The birds are usually wise enough to select a large branch where 
the nest resembles one of the peculiar knobby excrescences so often seen on oaks. There 
are a few species of birds which use this peculiar kind of covering for their structures. 
Notably among these are the Yireos, Gnatcatchers, the present species, and the Humming 
Birds, and it is observable that all birds which make use of it seldom employ any other 
material, even if they build in widely different sections. Thus the nests of the Wood 
Pewees that I have examined which were taken in Georgia were not essentially different 
from those taken in Maine. There is also a singular uniformity in the eggs of this species 
which are among the most beautiful of any I ever saw, occasionally one is found that is 
not spotted as thickly as usual, but the form of the egg, the shade of ground color, with 
the position of the markings are so peculiar and constant that the species is always recog¬ 
nizable at sight. 
The Wood Pewees arrive late, about the first week in May, shortly after which they 
begin to build but, as some time is required to construct their elaborate domiciles, the eggs 
are not deposited until June. The birds guard their nests very carefully and in spite of 
their usual gentle disposition, will not hesitate to dart into the face of any one who attempts 
to scale the tree in which their home is placed. The young appear about the first of July ' 
and leave the nest the latter part of that month. They follow their parents for a long 
time and are fed by them, as their bills are quite soft and are long in assuming the hooked 
form peculiar to the adults and which may be necessary in order to catch insects successfully. 
At this time the young have a continuous twittering cry, quite unlike anything that their 
parents ever utter, and they always keep well together, seldom scattering about woods. 
Thoy remain in Massachusetts until the middle of August, when they all disappear. I 
found them more abundant in Watsontown, Pennsylvania, the first week in September, 
than I ever saw them in any other given section. Their call notes could be heard on all 
sides for there were hundreds of them, but in a few days they had all departed for the 
south. 
GENUS IV. SAYORNIS. THE PHCEBES. 
Gen t . Ch. Bill, much shorter than the head which is semi-crested but without the central coronal patch. Outer quills, 
not incised. Tail, square and emaryinate. Upper outline of manubrium, viewed from the side, angled obliquely downwcnt. 
Height of keel, about equal to one half the length of the coracoids. Broncho-trachealis, very slightly developed. Bronchia- 
lis, quite large. 
Colors above quite dark, usually relieved by lighter below. The bill is black on both mandibles. Although there is an 
elongated patch of feathers on the upper rump, yet they are not as thick as in the last genus, nor as white. 
