142 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



(MS.), "nest built upon a hook hung withm a well"; A. D. DuBois 

 (MS.), "under a bridge, stuck to vertical face of concrete"; Albert W. 

 Honywill, Jr. (1911), in a woodpile; George Miksch Sutton (1936) 

 "on a strip of wallpaper that sagged from the ceiling" ; E. D. Nau- 

 man (1924), 5 feet down in a well, which was planked over except 

 for a 12-inch opening, 10 feet above the water; E. C. Hoffman (1930), 

 in an abandoned farmhouse to which the only entrance was a 2-by-4 

 inch opening in a broken windowpane (one young bird left the nest, 

 flew to the window and escaped) ; Emerson A. Stoner (1922), in an 

 air shaft of a coal mine, 7 feet below the surface of the ground. Les- 

 ter W. Smith writes us of a nest "on a portable cider mill." 



One of the likeliest places to look for a phoebe's nest is in the 

 sheds on a farm, the old back sheds where abandoned carriages have 

 been backed in, and the farm machines — rakes and hay-cutters — stand 

 waiting for the harvest. Here, on the inside beams, sometimes within 

 reach from the ground, we often find a number of nests, all but one 

 more or less dilapidated, and some mere relics of nests built long ago. 

 Generally they rest on a beam, although rarely they may be stuck 

 onto the wall. I remember one nest that was attached to a beam 

 slanting at a 45° angle, one side built up twice as high as the other 

 so that the top of the nest was level. Another common situation is 

 on the porch of an abandoned farmhouse, over the door, perhaps, on 

 the narrow wooden ledge. But even in inhabited houses phoebes 

 sometimes build in a retired back piazza, and in a few cases the 

 presence of people passing in and out all day has not driven them 

 away. It is not uncommon, however, even at the present time, to find 

 a nest placed in a niche on a rocky cliff far from any house. 



A. Dawes DuBois (MS.) describes a typical nest as "composed of 

 mud, dry grass, weed and grape-vine fibers; lined with finer fibers 

 and hair; and covered outside with moss." Of the moss, a constant 

 component of phoebe's nests. Dr. Samuel S. Dickey reports (MS.) : 

 "I have observed such species as Mnium sfellaria, Funaria sp., Polytri- 

 chum sp., Hypnmn cristafum, and H. dendroidesP 



Knight (1908) states: "Nest building requires about thirteen 

 days, though I have known exceptionally of a nest being built in 

 seven days." Bendire (1895) says that phoebes' nests "vary con- 

 siderably in shape as well as in the manner of construction. If 

 attached to the side of an overhanging rock, it is necessarily semi- 

 circular, and mainly composed of mud pellets mixed with moss, a 

 little grass, and occasionally a few feathers, somewhat resembling 

 the nest of our well-known Barn Swallow. If placed on a flat beam, 

 or rafter, or on top of a post, it is circular, and sometimes but little 

 or no mud is used in its construction." He gives the dimensions of 

 a nest, built "underneath the roots of a partly overturned tree," as 



