A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 2 of 3

by Spencer Fullerton Baird; T. M. Brewer; Robert Ridgway

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.