444 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
canyons that lead out of the Black Range, and common in the Mt. Taylor country, 
nesting from 8,000 to 9,000 feet, young being found in the nest July 4, at 8,000 feet, 
north of Mt. Taylor. A nest with three fresh eggs was found at Chloride, June 
2; fresh eggs near Chloride, June 13, 1916; young following adults for food on the 
street in Chloride August 1, 1919; and on the same date a nest containing young 
near Chloride at about 6,200 feet; nests found at about 5,000 feet on the Rio Grande 
at Albuquerque (1916-1918), in the Cuchillo Hills northeast of Fair View old seen 
with young, August 4 (Ligon, 1919).] 
It is a late breeder like its eastern relative and rarely has eggs before June. It 
was incubating, June 21, 1903, near Montoya (Bailey); young were still in the 
nest, August 19, 1909 (Goldman); and only just out of the nest in the Santa Clara 
Canyon, August 21, 1906 (Bailey). 
In the fall the species ranged to 10,000 feet in the Jemez Mountains, August 28, 
1906 (Bailey); while at the same time it occurred as low as Carlsbad, 3,100 feet, 
August 1-14, 1910 (Dearborn). For the most part the State is deserted in September 
—by the middle of the month in northern New Mexico and later in the southern 
part—but one was seen at Mesilla October 1, 1913, and in the previous year the 
species had remained until October 25 (Merrill). The last one noted in 1902 near 
Roswell was on September 21 (Gaut); while in 1889 it remained near Apache until 
the last of the month (Anthony). 
On the return in the spring, the earliest date is April 30, 1892, when one was 
taken on the southern boundary line 100 miles west of the Rio Grande (Mearns). 
At Chloride the first seen was May 10,1915 (Ligon); and it does not become common 
before the middle of May. [Near Lake Burford it was fairly common May 23- 
June 19, 1918 (Wetmore), and was observed in the Pecos Valley where there was 
timber, May 27 to June 22, 1924 (Ligon).]—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —In orchard or forest trees, 6 to 40 feet from the ground, either saddled 
on branches or at their forks; compactly interwoven of decayed grass, wood, plant 
fibers, down, fine strips of inner bark of juniper and sage, and grass tops; lined 
with fine grass, down, plant fibers, wool, and rarely a few feathers, sometimes 
covered with spider's web. Eggs: Usually 3, white, irregularly wreathed around 
the larger end with blotches and minute specks of brown and purple. 
Food. —As 99.93 per cent of the contents of the stomachs examined was animal, 
the birds found in orchards are there for no harm. Flies, including horse flies, 
crane flies, robber flies, and house flies, amounted to 44.25 per cent; and wasps 
and bees, 39.81 per cent (in which were no honey bees). The rest of the animal 
food (15.87 per cent) is made up chiefly of beetles, bugs, moths and caterpillars. 
It probably takes 2,400 insects each 10-hour day. Of these a large majority are 
harmful species (Beal). 
General Habits. —In the breeding season the Western Wood 
Pewee, with its erect trim form, is one of the familiar birds of the lower 
parts of the mountains, especially along the edge of the timber; and near 
Santa Rosa, the last of May, it was met with frequently in the Upper 
Sonoran canyons. Its call of tu-weer or tu-tu-tweer , sometimes varied to 
tweer-eer, which becomes one of the commonplaces of the way, has been 
heard by Doctor Grinnell in the San Bernardino Mountains before there 
was a trace of light in the morning and after all but owls and nighthawks 
were silent for the night. 
