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NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



The Phcebe's Biography 



N June, 1906, I found a phoebe 

 had made her nest on a beam 

 of a shaded porch of an unoccu- 

 pied cottage near our quarters. 

 The mother bird had laid two 

 eggs by June fifteenth, and all 

 was contentment until two 

 human occupants came to the 

 dwelling referred to. From now 

 on tiie birds had a serious time, 

 as they were kept in constant 

 anxiety. But in spite of this the 

 mother l)ird laid a third egg later. I 

 viewed the nest cautiously in an op})or- 

 tuno moment, by means of a small hand 

 mirror hold above the nest. A day or two 

 later the persons living in the cottage fired 

 a gun from the porch, which was more than the phncbes 

 could stand. On June twentieth they gave up visiting the 

 nest, and one morning it was completely demolished, together 

 with its eggs, supposedly by a red scpiirrel. 



Our cottage was about thirty yards distant from where the 

 phoebes had their first nest, and it was provided with a porch 

 in front. One morning I was pleased at finding the same 

 female phoebe carrying building material in her mouth and 

 depositing it on the beam under the porch roof almost in front 

 of our door. The nest was worked upon day after day until 

 completed. By July .seventh she had laid three eggs and this 

 was the full complement. The interval between the laying 

 of eggs and the hatching, which occurred on July twenty-third, 

 was another restless siege for the birds. Notwithstanding we 

 were very careful not to disturb our little feathered family, 

 the opening and closing of the doors of the cottage, which was 

 onlv about six feet away, were a constant annoyance to her. 



