XVII 

 PHCEBE 



THERE were plenty of other birds building new 

 spring homes about me, but Phoebe {Sayornis 

 nigricans) occupied more, of my attention than all the 

 others. Perhaps it was because he was so retiring and 

 had such a quiet personality. There is as much differ- 

 ence in birds as in people. When a new neighbor moves 

 into a community all eyes are upon him. Shall he be 

 taken into fellowship? Will his friendship be desirable? 

 Certainly I would expect a phoebe to be received cordially 

 if gentility counted. But it didn't count in this case for 

 the neighborhood had already been settled by linnets. 



Just over the fence was a vine that covered our neigh- 

 bor's trellis. It had overrun its quarters and crawled 

 along the telephone wire up under the eaves. One morn- 

 ing I saw a phoebe sitting on a rose stake. In a moment 

 he flitted up under the eaves, and sat on the wire scanning 

 one of the brackets. His tail was tilting in quiet excite- 

 ment. He seemed to be looking for a home site, and the 

 bracket under the eaves was the best kind of a place. But 

 I have often been disappointed in finding the nest site 

 I should select does not exactly suit the bird. However, I 

 had great hopes that the phoebes would build opposite 

 just to offset the noisy linnets or house finches. 



In a few days there were two phoebes flitting back and 



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