EASTERN PHOEBE 143 



"41/2 inches in outer diameter by 4 inches in height, the inner cup 

 being 21/2 inches across by 1% inches in depth." 



Occasionally phoebes repair their nest for use during a second 

 breeding period (Clinton G. Abbott, 1922), but often they build a 

 new nest, making the change, doubtless, to avoid the parasites that 

 usually overrun their nests. In rare cases they superimpose their 

 second nest on the old one. Wilbur F. Smith (1905) tells of a nest 

 five stories high, measuring 9 inches, and Richard C. Harlow (1912) 

 reports: "Near Pine Grove [Pennsylvania] in an old ore furnace, a 

 nest of Phoebe was found with six distinct stories." Bendire (1895) 

 says : "Occasionally they build a new nest on the top of the old one, 

 and this is sometimes done to get rid of Cowbirds' eggs that may 

 have been deposited by these intruders, but ordinarily they do not 

 appear to object much to such additions, and care for them as 

 faithfully as if they were their own." 



Frederick C. Lincoln (1926) records an instance in which man 

 proved to be an unfavorable factor to a pair of breeding phoebes. 

 He says: 



The nest was located but five feet from an electric light that apparently 

 was frequently burned to a late hour. * * * The electric light naturally 

 attracted many night-flying moths, which the adult Phoebe would catch through' 

 out the evening to feed her single offspring. This bird soon died and the sec- 

 ond set of eggs was laid. All five of these were successfully hatched and the 

 same procedure was again followed. The young were kept literally stuffed 

 with moths, the parents frequently continuing feeding as late as midnight. 

 All of these young died when they were about half fledged. 



It is possible that the diet of moths alone may have been wholly or mainly 

 responsible, but it seems more probable that the continuous feeding had the 

 effect of upsetting the normal daily digestion, with fatal results. 



Joseph Janiec (MS.) reports that in a nest he had under observa- 

 tion five eggs were deposited in five successive days. 



Eggs. — [Author's note: The eastern phoebe may lay anywhere 

 from three to seven or even eight eggs, but five eggs form the usual 

 set and the extremes are rare. The eggs are usually ovate, and they 

 have very little or no gloss. The color is pure white, and usually 

 all the eggs in the set are immaculate, but often one or more eggs 

 in a set are sparingly marked, chiefly about the larger end, with 

 small spots of dark or light brown. The measurements of 50 eggs 

 average 19.0 by 14.7 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes 

 measure 20.6 by 14.7, 20.1 by 15.2, 16.5 by 14.2, and 17.0 by 13.2 

 millimeters.] 



Young. — Althea R. Sherman, who has given close study to the 

 nesting of the phoebe, says in her notes : "Sixteen days is the average 

 time of the incubation period." She found in a series of 10 nests 

 that the period averaged slightly longer in the first brood than in 



