A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 2

Dr. Woodhouse frequently met with these birds in Western Texas and in New Mexico. They seemed more silent and more shy than the fuscus, but otherwise similar in their habits.

Dr. Kennerly met with this species at Bill Williams’s Fork, New Mexico, February 10, 1854. He states that he found them common in Texas, and as far to the westward as the Great Colorado River. They built their nests under the cliffs along the stream, and in notes and in every other respect closely resembled the common Pewee.

Dr. Heermann mentions finding this species abundant in Southern California. It was more especially plentiful in the fall, at the time of its migration southward. He also found it in New Mexico, in the northern part of Texas, near El Paso, and in Sacramento Valley, though somewhat rare. In migrating, it prefers the deep valleys bordered by high hills, but also occurs on the open plains, where, perched on the stalk of some dead weed, or on a prominent rock, it darts forth in pursuit of its prey, to return to the same point.

In Arizona, Dr. Coues found this Flycatcher common throughout the Territory. At Fort Whipple it was a summer resident. It was one of the first of the migratory birds to make its appearance in spring, arriving early in March, and remained among the last, staying until October. It winters in the Colorado Valley and the southern portions of the Territory generally. He found it frequenting almost exclusively open plains, in stunted chaparral and sage brush. In some other points of habits it is said to differ remarkably from our other Flycatchers. It does not habitually frequent cañons, rocky gorges, and secluded banks of streams, as does S. fuscus, nor does it inhabit forests, like other Flycatchers.

Dr. Cooper regards this bird as mostly a winter visitor in the southern and western parts of California, where he has seen none later than March. In summer it is said to migrate to the great interior plains as far to the north as latitude 60°. It arrives from the north at Los Angeles in September, and perhaps earlier in the northern part of the State, and possibly breeds there east of the Sierras. Mr. Allen found it common in Colorado Territory, among the mountains.

In the arid portions of the Great Basin this species was often seen by Mr. Ridgway. In its natural state it preferred rocky shores of lakes or rivers, or similar places in the cañons of the mountains, where it attached its bulky down-lined nests to the inside of small caves or recesses in the rocks, usually building them upon a small projecting shelf. Wherever man has erected a building in those desert wastes,—as at the stage-stations along the road, or in the mining towns,—it immediately assumed the familiarity of our eastern Pewee, at once taking possession of any outbuilding or any abandoned dwelling. Its notes differ widely from those of the S. fuscus and S. nigricans, the common one consisting of a wailing peer, varied by a tremulous twitter, and more resembling certain tones of the Wood Pewees (Contopus virens and richardsoni), with others which occasionally call to mind the Myiarchus cinerascens.

This species has been observed as far to the east as Racine, Wisconsin, where it was taken by Dr. P. R. Hoy. The specimen was sent to Mr. Cassin, and its identity fully established. Dr. Palmer found it breeding near Fort Wingate, in Arizona, June 11, 1869, and Mr. Ridgway obtained its nests and eggs at Pyramid Lake, Nevada, May 23, 1868. One of these nests (No. 13,588) he describes as a nearly globular mass, more flattened on top, 3.50 inches in depth by 4.00 in diameter, and composed chiefly of spiders’ webs, with which is mixed very fine vegetable fibres, of various descriptions. This composition forms the bulk of the nest, and makes a closely matted and tenacious, but very soft structure; the neat but rather shallow cavity is lined solely with the grayish-white down of wild ducks. The nest was placed on a shelf inside a small cave on the shore of the island, at about ten or twelve feet from the water.

Their eggs are rounded at one end and pointed at the other, measure .82 of an inch in length by .65 in breadth. They are of a uniform chalky white, and, so far as I am aware, entirely unspotted.

Genus CONTOPUS, Cabanis

Contopus, Cabanis, Journ. für Ornith. III, Nov. 1855, 479. (Type, Muscicapa virens, L.)

Contopus borealis.

942 ♂

Gen. Char. Tarsus very short, but stout; less than the middle toe and scarcely longer than the hinder; considerably less than the culmen. Bill quite broad at the base; wider than half the culmen. Tail moderately forked. Wings very long and much pointed, reaching beyond the middle of the tail; the first primary about equal to the fourth. All the primaries slender and rather acute, but not attenuated. Head moderately crested. Color olive above, pale yellowish beneath, with a darker patch on the sides of the breast. Under tail-coverts streaked in most species. A tuft of cottony-white feathers on each side of the rump (concealed in most species).

This genus is pre-eminently characterized among North American Flycatchers by the very short tarsi, and the long and much pointed wings.

In most other genera, as Sayoris, Myiarchus, and Empidonax, a trace of a cottony tuft may be discovered by careful search on the flanks; but in the present genus, there is, in addition, the tufts on the rump, not found in the others. The species are as follows:—

Species and Varieties

A. Cottony patch of white feathers on sides of the rump greatly developed, and conspicuous. Rictal bristles very short (about one fourth the length of the bill). Lower parts distinctly and abruptly white medially (somewhat interrupted on the breast).

1. C. borealis. First quill longer than the fourth, generally exceeding the third. Wing, 4.00 to 4.40; tail, 2.90 to 3.00; culmen, .90; tarsus, .60. Above dark olive-plumbeous, the tertials edged with whitish; lower parts a lighter shade of the same, laterally and across the breast (narrowly), the throat and middle line of the abdomen being abruptly white. Young not different. Hab. Northern parts of North America, to the north border of United States; on the mountain-ranges, farther south, on the interior ranges, penetrating through Mexico to Costa Rica.

B. Cottony patch on side of rump rudimentary and concealed. Rictal bristles strong (one half, or more, the length of the bill). Lower parts not distinctly white medially.

a. First primary shorter than fifth, but exceeding the sixth. Tail shorter than wings.

2. C. pertinax. Wing more than 3.50. Grayish-olive, becoming lighter on the throat (indistinctly) and abdomen (decidedly). No distinct light bands on the wing. Rictal bristles about half the length of bill.

The olive of a grayish cast, and not darker on the crown. Wing, 4.45; tail, 3.90; depth of its fork, .35; culmen, .92; tarsus, .70. Hab. Mexico, generally north into Arizona (Fort Whipple, Coues) … var. pertinax.

The olive of a sooty cast, and darker on the crown. Wing, 3.60; tail, 3.10; its fork, .20; culmen, .83; tarsus, .61. Hab. Costa Rica … var. lugubris.⁸¹

3. C. brachytarsus. Wing less than 3.00; colors much as in pertinax, var. pertinax, but wing-bands distinct, breast less grayish, and pileum decidedly darker than the back. Rictal bristles two thirds as long as the bill.

Wing, 2.65; tail, 2.55; culmen, .60; tarsus, .53. Hab. Panama … var. brachytarsus.⁸²

Wing, 2.90; tail, 2.55; culmen, .67; tarsus, .53. Hab. Yucatan … var. schotti.⁸³

b. First primary shorter than the sixth. Tail variable.

4. C. caribæus. Bill much depressed, very long and broad, the sides more nearly parallel on the basal than on the terminal half; rictal bristles very strong (two thirds, or more, the length of the bill). Above olivaceous, generally rather dark, but varying in tint. Beneath whitish, or dull light-ochraceous, more brownish along the sides and (more faintly) across the breast. Axillars and lining of the wing deep light-ochraceous.

 

Tail longer than wings; bill moderately depressed; rictal bristles three fourths as long as the bill.

Dark greenish-olive above; beneath dingy ochrey-yellowish. Wing, 2.80; tail, 2.90; culmen, .78; tarsus, .58. Hab. Cuba … var. caribæus.⁸⁴

Dark olive-gray above; beneath whitish, with scarcely any yellowish tinge. Wing, 3.00; tail, 3.05; culmen, .70; tarsus, .59. Hab. Hayti … var. hispaniolensis.⁸⁵

Brownish-olive above; beneath deep dingy ochrey-yellowish. Wing, 2.85; tail, 2.90; culmen, .66; tarsus, .56. Hab. Jamaica … var. pallidus.⁸⁶

Tail shorter than wing; bill excessively depressed; rictal bristles only one half as long as the bill.

Olive-plumbeous above; beneath dingy white (not interrupted on the breast); tinged posteriorly with sulphury (not ochrey) yellow; wing-bands pale ash. Wing, 2.80; tail, 2.65; culmen, .79; tarsus, .63. Hab. Bahamas … var. bahamensis.⁸⁷

C. First quill much longer than fifth (sometimes equal to fourth). Tail much shorter than the wing. Bill much smaller, less depressed, and more triangular; rictal bristles about one half the bill.

5. C. virens. Colors of caribæus var. bahamensis, but rather more olivaceous above, and more distinctly tinged with sulphur-yellow posteriorly beneath. Lining of the wings, and axillars, without any ochraceous tinge; lower tail-coverts distinctly grayish centrally.

Whitish of the lower parts not interrupted on the breast. Wing, 3.40; tail, 2.90; culmen, .67; tarsus, .54. Hab. Eastern Province of United States … var. virens.

Whitish of medial lower parts interrupted by a grayish wash across the breast. Wing, 3.40; tail, 2.65 to 2.70; culmen, .70; tarsus, .54 to .56. Hab. Western Province of United States, south throughout Middle America to Ecuador … var. richardsoni.⁸⁸

PLATE XLIV.

1. Contopus borealis. ♂ Wyoming, 38325.

2. Contopus pertinax. ♂ Mex., 42141.

3. Contopus virens. ♂ Pa., 1632.

4. Contopus richardsoni. ♂ Col. R., 2962.

5. Pyrocephalus mexicanus. ♂ Mex., 38206.

6. Empidonax obscurus. ♂ Nevada, 53294.

7. Empidonax hammondii. ♂ Nevada, 53305.

8. Empidonax traillii. ♂ Pa., 1025.

9. Empidonax pusillus. ♂ Cal., 41517.

10. Empidonax minimus. ♂ Pa., 2649.

11. Empidonax acadicus. ♂ Pa., 1825.

12. Empidonax flaviventris. ♂ Pa., 2330.

13. Mitrephorus palescens. ♂ Arizona, 40601.

Contopus borealis, Baird

OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER

Tyrannus borealis, Sw. & Rich. F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 141, plate. Myiobius borealis, Gray, Genera, I, 248. Muscicapa cooperi, Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 282.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 422; V, 1839, 422, pl. clxxiv.—Ib. Synopsis, 1839, 41.—Ib. Birds Am. I, 1840, 212, pl. lviii. Tyrannus cooperi, Bonap. List, 1838.—Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 298. Contopus cooperi, Cabanis, Journal für Ornithol. III, Nov. 1855, 479. Muscicapa inornata, Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 282. Contopus borealis, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 188.—Cooper & Suckley, 169.—Sclater, Catal. 1862, 230.—Samuels, 135.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 323. Contopus mesoleucus, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, 43.—Ib. Ibis, 1859, 122, 151. Tyrannus nigricans, Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 184.

Contopus borealis.

Sp. Char. Wings long, much pointed; the second quill longest; the first longer than the third. Tail deeply forked. Tarsi short. The upper parts ashy-brown, showing darker brown centres of the feathers; this is eminently the case on the top of the head; the sides of the head and neck, of the breast and body, resembling the back, but with the edges of the feathers tinged with gray, leaving a darker central streak. The chin, throat, narrow line down the middle of the breast and body, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts white, or sometimes with a faint tinge of yellow. The lower tail-coverts somewhat streaked with brown in the centre. On each side of the rump, generally concealed by the wings, is an elongated bunch of white silky feathers. The wings and tail very dark brown, the former with the edges of the secondaries and tertials edged with dull white. The lower wing-coverts and axillaries grayish-brown. The tips of the primaries and tail-feathers rather paler. Feet and upper mandible black, lower mandible brown. The young of the year similar, but the color duller; edges of wing-feathers dull rusty instead of grayish-white. The feet light brown. Length, 7.50; wing, 4.33; tail, 3.30; tarsus, .60.

Hab. Northern portions of whole of North America, throughout Rocky Mountains, south through elevated regions of Mexico to Costa Rica. Localities: Oaxaca, high regions, Oct. (Scl. 1858, 301); Xalapa (Scl. 1859, 366); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 122); Costa Rica (Lawr. IX, 115); Veragua (Salv. 1870, 199); San Antonio, Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 474, winter).

There is wonderfully little variation in this species, both in coloration and size, with different regions; in fact none other than individual can be observed. Contrary to the usual rule, spring specimens have a more appreciable sulphur-yellow tinge below.

Habits. This still comparatively rare species was first obtained by Richardson and described by Swainson. The specimen was shot on the Saskatchewan. No other was taken, and no information was obtained in reference to its habits. It appears to have been next met with by Mr. John Bethune, in Cambridge, June 7, 1830, in the woods of Mount Auburn. This and a second specimen, obtained soon after, were females, on the point of incubation. A third female was shot in the following year, June 21. Supposed to be a new species, it was described by Mr. Nuttall as Tyrannus cooperi. All the specimens procured had their stomachs filled with torn fragments of bees, wasps, and similar insects.

Mr. Nuttall, who watched the motions of two other living individuals of this species, states that they appeared tyrannical and quarrelsome even with each other. Their attacks were always accompanied with a whining, querulous twitter. The disputes seemed to be about the occupancy of certain territories. One bird, a female, appeared to confine herself to a small clump of red cedars, in the midst of a sandy piece of forest. From the tree-tops she kept a sharp lookout for passing insects, and pursued them, as they appeared, with great vigor and success, sometimes chasing them to the ground, and returning to her perch with a mouthful which she devoured at her leisure. When she resumed her position, she would occasionally quiver her wings and tail, erect her crest, keeping up a whistling call of pŭ-pŭ, uttered with variations. Besides this call the male had a short song which sounded like ch’-phe’bēē.

The nest of this pair Mr. Nuttall discovered in the horizontal branch of a tall red cedar, fifty feet from the ground. It was made externally of interlaced dead twigs of the cedar, lined with wiry stems, and dry grasses, and fragments of lichens. It contained three young, which remained in the nest twenty-three days, and were fed on beetles and other insects. Before they left their nests they could fly as well as their parents. The male bird was very watchful, and would frequently follow Mr. Nuttall half a mile. They were in no way timid, and allowed him to investigate them and their premises without any signs of alarm.

In 1832 the same pair, apparently, took possession of a small juniper, near the tree they had occupied the year before, in which, at the height of fifteen feet, they placed their nest. It contained four eggs which, except in their superior size, were precisely similar to those of the Wood Pewee, yellowish cream-color, with dark brown and lavender-purple spots, thinly dispersed. After removing two of these eggs, the others were accidentally rolled out of the nest. The pair constructed another nest, again in a cedar-tree, at a short distance. The next year they did not return to that locality. Mr. Nuttall afterwards met with individuals of this species in the fir woods on the Columbia.

On the 8th of August, 1832, Mr. Audubon, in company with Mr. Nuttall, obtained the specimen of this species in Brookline, Mass., from which his drawing was made. In the course of his journey farther east, Audubon found it in Maine, on the Magdeleine Islands, and on the coast of Labrador. He afterwards met with it in Texas.

Mr. Boardman reports the Olive-sided Flycatcher as having of late years been very abundant during the summer in the dead woods about the lakes west of Calais, where formerly they were quite uncommon. Mr. Verrill mentions it as a summer visitant in Oxford County, in the western part of the State, but not very common, and as undoubtedly breeding there. It was never observed there before the 20th of May. It is said to be more abundant at Lake Umbagog.

In Western Massachusetts Mr. Allen regards this bird as a not very rare summer visitant. It arrives about May 12, breeds in high open woods, and is seldom seen at any distance from them. It leaves about the middle of September.

Mr. William Brewster, who resides in Cambridge, in the neighborhood in which this species was first observed by Mr. Nuttall, informs me that these birds still continue to be found in that locality. He has himself met with five or six of their nests, all of which were placed near the extremity of some long horizontal branch, usually that of a pitch-pine, but on one occasion in that of an apple-tree. The eggs were laid about the 15th of June, in only one instance earlier. The females were very restless, and left their nest long before he had reached it, and, sitting on some dead branch continually uttered, in a complaining tone, notes resembling the syllables pill-pill-pill, occasionally varying to pu-pu-pu. The males were fierce and quarrelsome, and attacked indiscriminately everything that came near their domain, sometimes seeming even to fall out with their mates, fighting savagely with them for several seconds. When incubation was at all far advanced, the birds evinced considerable courage, darting down to within a few inches of his head, if he approached their nest, at the same time loudly snapping their bills.

A nest of this Flycatcher was found in Lynn, Mass., by Mr. George O. Welch, in June, 1858. It was built on the top of a dead cedar, and contained three eggs. It was a flat, shallow structure, five inches in its external diameter, and with a very imperfectly defined cavity. The greatest depth was less than half an inch. It was coarsely and loosely built of strips of the bark and fine twigs of the red cedar, roots, mosses, dry grasses, etc. The nest was so shallow, that, in climbing to it, two of the eggs were rolled out and broken.

Mr. Charles S. Paine has found this bird breeding in Randolph, Vt. On one occasion he found its nest on the top of a tall hemlock-tree, but was not able to get to it.

In Philadelphia, Mr. Trumbull found this species very rare. It passed north early in May, and south in September. Near Hamilton, Canada, it is very rare, none having been seen; and two specimens obtained near Toronto are all that Mr. McIlwraith is aware of having been taken in Canada West.

Dr. Hoy informs me that this species used to be quite common near Racine, frequenting the edges of thick woods, where they nested. They have now become quite scarce. Some years since, he found one of their nests, just abandoned by the young birds, which their parents were engaged in feeding. It was on the horizontal branch of a maple, and was composed wholly of usneæ.

In Washington Territory this bird appears to be somewhat more common than in other portions of the United States. Dr. Suckley obtained a specimen at Fort Steilacoom, July 10, 1856. It was not very abundant about Puget Sound, and showed a preference for shady thickets and dense foliage, where it was not easily shot. Dr. Cooper speaks of it as very common, arriving early in May and frequenting the borders of woods, where, stationed on the tops of tall dead trees, it repeats a loud and melancholy cry throughout the day, during the whole of summer. It frequents small pine groves along the coast, and also in the interior, and remains until late in September.

In California Dr. Cooper found this species rather common in the Coast Range towards Santa Cruz, where they had nests in May; but as these were built in high inaccessible branches, he was not able to examine them. He also found it at Lake Tahoe in September.

This species was only met with by Mr. Ridgway in the pine woods high up on the East Humboldt, Wahsatch, and Uintah Mountains. There it was breeding, but was nowhere abundant, not more than two pairs being observed within an area of several miles. They preferred the rather open pine woods, and were shot from the highest branches. Their common note was a mellow puer, much like one of the whistling notes of the Cardinal Grosbeak (Cardinalis virginianus).

Mr. Dresser states it to be not uncommon near San Antonio in the winter season. Dr. Heermann mentions that two specimens of this species were obtained, to his knowledge, on the Cosumnes River, in California. It has been taken in winter, in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, by Mr. Boucard, and has been met with at Jalapa, and even as far south as Guatemala.

A single specimen of this bird was taken, August 29, 1840, at Nenortalik, Greenland, and sent to Copenhagen.

The eggs of this species measure .86 of an inch in length by .62 in breadth, and are rounded at one end and sharply tapering at the other. The ground-color is a rich cream-color with a roseate tint. They are beautifully marked around the larger end with a ring of confluent spots of lilac, purple, and red-brown. These vary in number and in the size of this crown, but the markings are invariably about the larger end, as in Contopus virens.

Contopus pertinax, Cabanis & Heine

MEXICAN OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER

Contopus pertinax, Cab. et Hein. Mus. Hein. II, p. 72.—Sclater, Catal. Am. B. 1862, 231.—Coues, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1866, 60.—Elliot, Illust. B. Am. I, pl. viii.—Cooper, Geol. Surv. Calif. Orn. I, 324.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 324. Contopus borealis, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1858, 301; 1859, 43; Ibis, 1859, 122, 440.

Sp. Char. Nearly uniformly olive-gray, lighter on the throat and abdominal region, where is a strong tinge of ochraceous-yellow; feathers of the wings with faintly lighter edges. Length about 8.00; wing, 4.45; tail, 3.90; depth of its fork, .35; culmen, .92; tarsus, .70. Rictal bristles long, about half the bill; lower mandible whitish. Young. Similar, but with a stronger ochraceous tinge on the abdomen and lining of the wings, and two distinct ochraceous bands across the wing.

Hab. Mexico generally, into southern borders of United States (Fort Whipple, Arizona; Dr. Coues).

Habits. Dr. Coues found this species a rare summer resident at Fort Whipple, where a single specimen was taken August 20, in good plumage. This was its first introduction into the fauna of the United States. It is one of several Mexican and peninsular birds found in Upper Arizona, probably following the course of the valley of the Great Colorado River. No observations were made in reference to its habits.

This species is abundant in the Department of Vera Cruz, according to Mr. Sumichrast, who gives it as confined to the alpine region. He found both it and C. virens common in the mountains of Orizaba, between the height of 3,600 and 7,500 feet.

Contopus virens, Cabanis

WOOD PEWEE

Muscicapa virens, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 327.—Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 936.—Latham, Index Orn.—Licht. Verz. 1823, 563.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 285.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 93; V, 1839, 425, pl. cxv.—Ib. Synopsis, 1839, 42.—Ib. Birds Am. I, 1840, 231, pl. lxiv.—Giraud, Birds L. Island, 1844, 43. Muscicapa querula, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, 68, pl. xxxix (not of Wilson). Muscicapa rapax, Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 81, pl. xiii, f. 5. Tyrannula virens, Rich. App. Back’s Voyage.—Bonap. List, 1838. Myiobius virens, Gray. Tyrannus virens, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 316. Contopus virens, Cabanis, Journal für Ornithologie, III, Nov. 1855, 479.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 190.—Sclater, Catal. 1862, 231.—Samuels, 137.

Sp. Char. The second quill longest; the third a little shorter; the first shorter than the fourth; the latter nearly .40 longer than the fifth. The primaries more than an inch longer than the secondaries. The upper parts, sides of the head, neck, and breast, dark olivaceous-brown, the latter rather paler, the head darker. A narrow white ring round the eye. The lower parts pale yellowish, deepest on the abdomen; across the breast tinged with ash. This pale ash sometimes occupies the whole of the breast, and even occasionally extends up to the chin. It is also sometimes glossed with olivaceous. The wings and tail dark brown; generally deeper than in S. fuscus. Two narrow bands across the wing, the outer edge of first primary and of the secondaries and tertials, dull white. The edges of the tail-feathers like the back; the outer one scarcely lighter. Upper mandible black; the lower yellow, but brown at the tip. Length, 6.15; wing, 3.50; tail, 3.05.

Hab. Eastern North America to the borders of the high Central Plains. Localities: ? Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 122); Mexico (Scl. Ibis, I, 441); Cuba? (Cab. J. III, 479; Gundl. Rep. 1865, 239); Costa Rica (Cab. J. 1861, 248; Lawr. IX, 115); Coban (Scl. List); Vera Cruz, alpine region, breeds (Sum. M. Bost. Soc. I, 557); San Antonio, Texas and Eastern Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 474, breeds).

Young birds are duller in plumage; the whitish markings of wing tinged with ferruginous; the lower mandible more dusky.

Habits. The common Wood Pewee of eastern North America occurs in abundance from the Atlantic to the great plains, and from Texas to New Brunswick. It breeds from South Carolina and Texas north. It is found in Central and Southern Maine, but is not so abundant as it is farther south. It is found near St. Stephens, N. B., and breeds in that vicinity, but is not common. It is a summer visitant at Norway, Me., but Professor Verrill states that it is much less common than in Massachusetts, where it arrives the last of May. At Hamilton, in Canada, Mr. McIlwraith records this species as abundant in the summer, arriving there the middle of May. I am not aware of its having been taken north of the 45th parallel of latitude, with the exception of one at Red River, Minnesota, and another at Fort William by Mr. Kennicott. It is said by Dr. Coues to be a summer resident of South Carolina from the middle of April to the middle of October, and Mr. Dresser states that he found it very common in the wooded river-bottoms near San Antonio during the summer, not arriving there until late in April or early in May. Their call-note, he states, is a low prolonged whistle. Their stomachs were found to contain minute coleopterous insects. Dr. Woodhouse also speaks of it as common in Texas and in the Indian Territory. In the Department of Vera Cruz, Mr. Sumichrast found this species, as well as the Contopus pertinax, common in the mountains of Orizaba, between the height of 3,600 and 7,500 feet.

In Pennsylvania, Wilson states that the Wood Pewee is the latest of the summer birds in arriving, seldom coming before the 12th or 15th of May. He found it frequenting the shady high-timbered woods, where there is little underwood and an abundance of dead twigs and branches. It was generally found in low situations. He adds that it builds its nest on the upper side of a limb or branch, formed outwardly of moss and lined with various soft materials, and states that the female lays five white eggs, and that the brood leave the nest about the middle of June. Probably the last statement is correct as applied to Pennsylvania, but the intimation as to the color of the egg and some of the characteristics of the nest is so inaccurate as to make it doubtful whether Wilson could have ever seen the nest for himself.

This species, like all its family, is a very expert catcher of insects, even the most minute, and has a wonderfully quick perception of their near presence, even when the light of day has nearly gone and in the deep gloom of thick woods. It takes its station on the end of a low dead limb, from which it darts out in quest of insects, sometimes for a single individual, which it seizes with a peculiar snap of its bill; and, frequently meeting insect after insect, it keeps up a constant snapping sound as it passes on, and finally returns to its post to resume its watch. During this watch it occasionally is heard to utter a low twitter, with a quivering movement of the wings and tail, and more rarely to enunciate a louder but still feeble call-note, sounding like pēē-ē. These notes are continued until dark, and are also uttered throughout the season.

Mr. Nuttall states that this species at times displays a tyrannical disposition, and that it has been observed to chase a harmless Sparrow to the ground, because it happened to approach his station for collecting insects.

According to Mr. Audubon, some of these birds spend the winter months in the extreme Southern States, Louisiana and Florida, where they feed upon berries as well as insects.

In Massachusetts the Wood Pewee is a very abundant species, and may usually be found in any open woods, or in an orchard of large spreading trees. In the latter situation it frequently breeds. It usually selects a lower dead limb of a tree, from ten to thirty feet from the ground, and occasionally, but more seldom, a living moss-grown branch. It always chooses one that is covered with small lichens, and saddles its nest upon its upper surface, so closely assimilated by its own external coating of lichens as not to be distinguishable from a natural protuberance on the limb. This structure is extremely beautiful, rivalling even the artistic nests of the Humming-Bird. It is cup-shaped, and a perfect segment of a sphere in shape. The periphery of the nest is made of fine root fibres, small lichens, and bits of cobwebs and other similar materials. The outer sides are entirely covered with a beautiful coating of mosses and lichens, glued to the materials with the saliva of the builder. The eggs are usually four in number, measure .78 of an inch in length and .55 in breadth. They are obtuse at one end and tapering at the other, have a ground of a rich cream-color, and are marked about the larger end with a wreath of blended purple, lilac, and red-brown in large and confluent spots. They hatch about the middle of June, leave the nest in July, and have but a single brood.