No. 145.
SAY’S PEWEE.
A. O. U. No. 457. Sayornis saya (Bonap.).
Synonyms.—Say’s Phoebe. Western Phoebe.
Description.—Adults: General color drab (grayish brown to dark hair-brown), darker on pileum and auriculars, lighter on throat, shading thru upper tail-coverts to black; tail brownish black; wings fuscous, the coverts and exposed webs of tertials edged with lighter grayish brown; underparts below breast cinnamon-buff; axillars and lining of wings light buff or cream-buff. Bill and feet black; iris brown. Young birds are more extensively fulvous, and are marked by two cinnamomeous bands on wings (formed by tips of middle and greater coverts). Length of adult male 7.50 (190.5); wing 4.14 (105); tail 3.23 (82); bill .62 (15.7); tarsus .79 (20). Female averages smaller.
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; drab coloring; cinnamon-colored belly; melancholy notes; frequents barns and outbuildings or cliffs.
Nesting.—Nest: composed of dried grasses, moss, plant-fibers, woolly materials of all sorts, and hair; placed on ledges, under eaves of outbuildings, under bridges, or on cliffs. Eggs: 3-6, usually 5, dull white, occasionally sparsely dotted. Av. size, .77 × .59 (19.6 × 15). Season: April 20-May 10, June 1-15; two broods. Yakima County April 24, 1900, 5 young about five days old (eggs fresh about April 7th).
General Range.—Western North America north to the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Yukon Territory, etc., east to Manitoba, western Wyoming, western Kansas, etc., breeding thruout range, south to Arizona and northern Lower California; southward in winter over northern and central Mexico.
Range in Washington.—Common summer resident east of the Cascades (chiefly in Upper Sonoran and Arid Transition life-zones), rare or casual west of the mountains.
Migrations.—Spring: c. March 15; Okanogan County March 17, 1896; Ahtanum (Yakima Co.) Feb. 20, 1900.
Authorities.—Bendire, Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. II. 1895, p. 277. (T). D¹. Kb. D². Ss¹. Ss². J. B.
Specimens.—P¹. Prov. C.
A gentle melancholy possesses the Pewee. The memory of that older Eden once blotted by the ruthless ice-sheet, still haunts the chambers of the atavistic soul and she goes mourning all her days. Or she is like a Peri barred from Paradise, and no proffer of mortal joys can make amends for the immortal loss ever before her eyes. Kuteéw, kuteéw!
In keeping with her ascetic nature the Pewee haunts solitary places, bleak hillsides swept by March gales, lava cliffs with their solemn, silent bastions. Or, since misery loves company, she ventures upon some waterless townsite and voices in unexpectant cadences the universal yearning for green things and cessation of wind.
A part of the drear impression made by this bird is occasioned by the time of year when it puts in an appearance, March at the latest, and, once at least, as early as February 20th (in Yakima County). Flies are an uncertain crop at this season, and it is doubtless rather from a desire for shelter than from inclination to society, that the species has so largely of late years resorted to stables and outbuildings. Twenty years ago Say’s Pewee was unknown as a tenant of buildings in Yakima County. Now, there are few well-established farms in that part of the State which do not boast a pair somewhere about the premises; while hop-houses are recognized as providing just that degree of isolation which the bird really prefers.
Say’s Pewee, for all its depressed spirits, is an active bird, and makes frequent sallies at passing insects. These constitute its exclusive diet save in early spring when, under the spell of adverse weather, dried berries are sought. Butterflies and moths are favorite food, but grasshoppers and beetles are captured as well; and the bird, in common with certain other flycatchers, has the power of ejecting indigestible elytra and leg-sheathings in the form of pellets.
Photo by the Author.
SAY’S PEWEE.
The males arrive in spring some days in advance of the females. Courtship is animated in spite of the melancholy proclivities of the bird; and the male achieves a sort of song by repeating ku-tew’s rapidly, on fluttering wing. Besides this, in moments of excitement, both birds cry Look at ’ere, with great distinctness.
Eggs are laid by the 10th of April and usually at least two broods are raised, in this latitude. In the natural state these Pewees nest about cliffs, at moderate heights, and in shallow caves. In selecting a site, they show a decided preference for a cliff which enjoys the protection of nesting Prairie Falcons. A stout bracket of twigs, weed-fibers, lichens, and other soft substances, is constructed, and a luxurious lining of wool and hair is supplied; but the whole must be partially shielded by some projecting tooth or facet of stone, or artificial construction.