. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds. Birds; Birds. 232 USEFUL is deceptive, for the Pewee is evidently happy, and delights in its plaintive tones. Its common call is pee'-a-icee', fol- lowed frequently by pe'e'-er , uttered in a drawling manner, and with considerable intervals between the phrases. Belidire says that the male has a low, twittering warble in the mating season. The bird also twits and twitt
. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds. Birds; Birds. 232 USEFUL is deceptive, for the Pewee is evidently happy, and delights in its plaintive tones. Its common call is pee'-a-icee', fol- lowed frequently by pe'e'-er , uttered in a drawling manner, and with considerable intervals between the phrases. Belidire says that the male has a low, twittering warble in the mating season. The bird also twits and twitters from time to time. The nest merits more than the usual brief description. It is usually saddled on a dead limb, the outside adorned, like that of the Hummingbird's nest, with crustaceous lichens, so that when seen from below it looks like a knot on the branch. It is largely made of fine grasses and fibers, and often lined with them. As the nest is not deep, and rests on the top of the branch, the bottom is usually so thin that it would fall out were it not supported by the bark. The food of the Pewee consists very largely of flying insects, but it often flutters about the foliage, picking off caterpillars and plant lice. Daily in the early morning and in the dusk of evening, even in the un- certain gloom of the deep woods, this bird pursues its prey unerringly. Fly- ing beetles and ants, butterflies and moths, flies, gnats, mosquitoes, — all are taken .v The Pewee is useful in the de- struction of small moths and their larvse. The male canker worm moths, tussock moths, Tortricid moths, and gipsy moths are commonly eaten, while the young birds are fed largely at times on cankerworms. This bird takes some parasitic flies, and Bendirc records an instance where it pil- fered young trout from a hatchery. Pig. 90. —Wood Pewee, one-half natural Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - co
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