NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 243 



which I found in culverts, over running water, were perfectly green 

 with moss, and had evidently been occupied for several years. The 

 nest, attached to a perpendicular surface, is built like that of the Barn 

 Swallow, being compactly and neatly made of mud and various vege- 

 table substances, with a lining of grass and feathers. 



This bird's attachment for a chosen locality is sometimes remark- 

 able ; its nest is known to have been torn down and rebuilt again by 

 its owner in the same spot. The eggs may be taken, when a second 

 and even a third set will be deposited. 



The eggs are ordinarily four or five in number ; clutches of five 

 are the most common ; they are pure white, sometimes sparsely spotted 

 with obscure or well-defined reddish-brown dots at the larger end. In 

 exceptional instances the Pewee deposits six and seven eggs. Their 

 average size is .Six. 52. 



457. Sayornis saya (BONAP.) [316.] 



Say's Phoebe. 



Hab. Western United States from the Great Plains to the Pacific, north to the Saskatchewan, south 

 to Mexico. 



A bird of an extended distribution in Western United States, and 

 possessing the same general traits common to the Eastern Pewee. 

 Col. Goss records this species as a summer resident in Western Kansas, 

 and styles it "a bird of the plains." Begins laying the last of May. 

 Dr. Cones says that it is common in open or rocky country, where it is 

 seen singly or in pairs ; the principal flycatcher of unwooded regions, 

 in weedy, brushy places, displaying the usual activity of its tribe, and 

 uttering a melancholy note of one syllable, or a tremulous twitter. 



Like 5". phcebe, it has been found nesting in hollow trees, in caves 

 and recesses of rocks, in outbuildings or abandoned dwellings. Some- 

 times, with the familiarity of the Eastern species', it will build its nest 

 on a porch of a dwelling whose inmates are almost constantly in sight. 

 Occasionally two broods are reared in a season. Mr. Bryant men- 

 tions a nest found by Mr. Walter Bliss at Carson, Nevada, placed within 

 and close to the entrance of a deserted Bank Swallow's burrow. The 

 composition of the nest varies more or less according to the locality in 

 which it is built ; vegetable fibres, soft grasses, spiders' webs, etc., are 

 the principal materials, and the shallow cavity is lined with feathers 

 and hair. 



The eggs are four or five in number, white, with an average 

 size of .75 x .57. A set of four eggs, taken near Banning, Cali- 

 fornia, May 19, 1884, measure .75x.6i, .77x.6i, .75x.6i, -76x.59. 

 Mr. Norris has a set of five, eggs taken in Larimer county, Colorado, 

 July i, 1887. The nest was placed on a projecting beam of a wagon 



