AUDUBON AND THE PHGEBES. 



A PAIR of Phoebes once built in a cave near 

 Audubons house. He visited them so often, 

 and was so careful not to frighten them, that they 

 finally paid no more heed to his presence than if he 

 had been a post. He was therefore able to learn 

 much about their manner of life ; he found out how 

 often eggs were laid, and how long the female sat 

 upon them. As the young grew up he handled them 

 frequently, so that they, too, grew accustomed to him. 



As they grew older he tied bits of thread to their 

 legs, but these they always pulled off. When, how- 

 ever, they became so used to the threads that they 

 allowed them to remain on their legs, Audubon 

 wound a silver thread on the leg of each, "loose 

 enough not to hurt" them, "but so fastened that no 

 exertion of the birds could remove it." Soon the 

 birds left the nest and in the autumn went south. 



The next spring Audubon hunted up all the 

 Phoebe's nests in the neighborhood and caught the 

 females as they sat upon the nest. Do you not 

 imagine that he was pleased to find that on the legs 

 of two birds was a light, silver thread ? 



