398 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



and Cuba, wintering from the south Atlantic and Gulf States southward. 

 Breeds from South Carolina northward. 



This is an abundant summer resident throughout the state, arriving early 

 and staying late; generally distributed, but perhaps somewhat less common 

 in the most northern parts of the Lower Peninsula and in the Upper Penin- 

 sula. Sometimes it arrives from the south before the middle of March 

 (Petersburg, March 10, 1887, March 10, 1894, March 17, 1889), but the 

 average date of arrival for southern Michigan is not far from March 20, 

 while occasionally it is not seen until the first week in April. It lingers 

 late into October — sometimes even into November, but does not then 

 haunt the waterside as in spring. 



It shows a great fondness for the vicinity of water and often builds its 

 nest under bridges and culverts or on the rafters, cornices and other favor- 

 able parts of buildings close to the water. Not infrequently it is placed 

 on a ledge of rock in a river gorge, railroad cut, or entrance of a mine shaft 

 or tunnel; less often on a root or stump under a projecting sandbank. 

 The nest itself is made of various soft substances such as grasses, mosses, 

 roots, hairs, wool, and plant fibres, usually mixed with more or less mud, 

 though this may be absent. The eggs are commonly four or five, more 

 rarely three or six, pure white and unspotted, but occasionally one or two 

 eggs in a set will show a few dots of brown. The eggs average .84 by .55 

 inches and the period of incubation is about twelve days. The nest often 

 becomes infested with vermin, the most common parasite being a mite 

 which occurs in millions. In one case after the young left a nest over 

 our front door these mites invaded the house and caused more or less trouble 

 for several days. 



The note of the Phoebe is not easily described. We have never been able 

 to detect any resemblance to the w^ord phoebe or pe-wee. Bendire says: 

 "They appear rather to approach the words see-hee, see-hee, and are some- 

 times varied to 'see-bee,' with the accent on the last syllable." The clear, 

 long-drawn, plaintive-whistled pe-wee of late winter and early spring 

 is given by the Chickadee, weeks or even months before the Phoebe appears. 



The food is almost entirely insects, and the bird is valuable in keeping 

 down mosquitos, gnats and flies, as well as other insects. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult (sexes alike): Top and sides of head smoky brown, often blackish; rest of upper 

 parts grayish-olive, the wing-coverts and tertiaries narrowly tipped and margined with 

 whitish; under parts dull whitish, just tinged posteriorly with yellowish, the sides of the 

 breast and often the chin, strongly shaded with the color of the back; wing and tail feathers 

 blackish, the narrow outer web of the outer tail-feather pure white except near tip; bill 

 and feet black; iris brown. The female is slightly smaller than the male. Young are 

 scarcely different from adults, but at first sliow many rusty edged feathers. 



Length 6.25 to 7 inches; wing 3.25 to 3.55; tail 3.45 to 3.75; culmen .45 to .50. 



180. Say's Phoebe. Sayornis sayus (Boruip.). (457) 



Synonyms: Muscicapa saya, Bonap. 1825. — Tyrannus saya, Nutt. — Tyraniiula pallida, 

 Swains. — Sayornis sayus, Baird. 



Similar in general to the common Phoebe, but slightly larger, the bill 

 somewhat narrower, the belly cinnamon, and the tail black. 



Distribution. — Western United States from the Plains to the Pacific; 

 north along the Yukon River to the Arctic Circle; south to Cape St. Lucas 



