merely flitting from his perch, seizing his prey, and then resuming his
station. This movement is performed in the most graceful manner, and he
often turns a somerset, or appears to do so, if the insect at first
evades his pursuit,--and he seldom fails in capturing it. All this is
done in silence, for he is no singer. The only sounds he utters are an
occasional clicking cherup, and now and then, with a plaintive cadence,
he seems to speak the word _pewee_. As the male and female bird cannot
be readily distinguished, I have not been able to determine whether this
sound is uttered by both sexes, or by the male alone.

So plainly expressive of sadness is this peculiar note, that it is
difficult to believe that the little being that utters it can be free
from sorrow. Certainly he can have no congeniality of feeling with the
sprightly Bobolink. Perhaps, with the rest of his species, he represents
only the fragment of a superior race, which, according to the
metempsychosis, have fallen from their original importance, and this
melancholy note is but the partial utterance of sorrow that still
lingers in their breasts after the occasion of it is forgotten.

Though a shy and retiring bird, the Pewee is known to almost every
person, on account of its remarkable note. Like the swallow, he builds
his nest under a sheltering roof or rock, and it is often fixed upon a
beam or plank under a bridge that crosses a small stream. Near this
place he takes his station, on the branch of a tree or the top of a
fence, and sits patiently waiting for every moth, chafer, or butterfly
that passes along. Fortunately, there are no prejudices existing in the
community against this bird that provoke men to destroy him. As he is
known to feed entirely on insects, he cannot be suspected of doing
mischief on the farm or in the garden, and is considered worthy of
protection.

I would remark in this place, that the Fly-Catchers and Swallows, and a
few other species that enjoy an immunity in our land, would, though
multiplied to infinity, perform only those offices which are assigned
them by Nature. It is a vain hope that leads one to believe, while he is
engaged in exterminating a certain species of small birds, that their
places can be supplied and their services performed by other species
which are allowed to multiply to excess. The preservation of every
species of indigenous birds is the only means that can prevent the
over-multiplication of injuriou