EASTERN PHOEBE 141 



contented, and self-sufficient, devoting themselves to the care of 

 their family. 



Courtship. — The courtship of the male consists merely in follow- 

 ing the female about on the wing, singing and calling to her, but with 

 no posturing or display, unless we consider the flight song a form 

 of display. The singing of the male, which is incessant on his arrival, 

 becomes less frequent ns the birds pair off. I have watched a pair 

 for an hour late in April without hearing a song. On such occasions, 

 however, the male is attentive to the female; he makes long flights 

 after her as she moves about and hovers near her in the air, and he 

 sometimes utters a softly whistled note, too-lit^ suggestive of a horned 

 lark's flight call. 



Miss Sherman (MS.) speaks of a bird "calling unavailingly from 

 the roof of an old barn all summer" and of "a wooer, unsuccessful for 

 a month, perhaps more, which tried to coax a female to an old nest. 

 He went to the nest, calling plioehe and giving a peculiar rattling 

 note, and when he succeeded in getting the female to come to the 

 nest, he changed to a lower, softer sound. One day both sat together 

 on the edge of the nest and when she slipped into it he uttered a 

 rasping twitter." 



Nesting. — ^The flycatchers as a group build their nests in a variety 

 of situations — on high branches, in holes in trees, or on the ground — 

 but each species holds fairly closely to its customary site except when 

 circumstances force a departure from their usual habit — for example, 

 when the kingbird breeds in treeless regions. The phoebes, however, 

 exercise a wdder range of choice in selecting their nesting site. This 

 is notably true in the case of the eastern phoebe, doubtless because of 

 its intimate association with man. 



Originally phoebes built chiefly in rocky ravines, where their nests 

 often rested on a firm support and were partially sheltered from 

 above, but the birds quickly adopted man-made structures, such as 

 barn cellars and sheds, and perhaps oftenest of all they build their 

 nests, little mounds of green moss and mud, under bridges and tres- 

 tles, which afford ideal protection. Indeed, our bird is often called 

 the bridge pewee. Mr. Bent (MS.) cites a case of a pair of phoebes, 

 or their successors, that built under the same bridge for 30 years. 

 "Formerly," he says, "the trolley cars rumbled over this bridge twice 

 an hour all day, but the birds were not disturbed, or at least not dis- 

 couraged, by the noise." 



The following list shows a diversity of nesting sites and indicates 

 how great an influence man has had on the breeding habits of the 

 phoebe: Arthur C. Bent (MS.), "around the socket of an electric 

 lamp,partly supported by the wire"; Rev. J. J. Murray (MS.)? "under 

 overhanging roots at the top of a roadside bank"; Laidlaw Williams 



