BLACK PI-IOEBE 155 



possibly Empidonax trailli, is so partial to the vicinity of water; it 

 may confidently be looked for by the side of almost any marshy low- 

 land pond or under the sycamores bordering the lower reaches of the 

 mountain streams. The black phoebe is one of the most domestic 

 of all western birds and is frequently seen about barnyards, sweeping 

 over city lawns, or even hunting in the artificial canyons of downtown. 

 Los Angeles, Undoubtedly this is one of the species that have thrived 

 and increased with the settlement of the Southwest. Peaceable and 

 unobtrusive, free from annoying habits, and eminently beneficial in its 

 diet, the black phoebe is one of our most valuable birds. 



This species and the vermilion flycatcher are the only members of 

 their family that may be considered substantially nonmigratory 

 throughout most of their ranges within the United States. Their sea- 

 sonal movements appear to be more in response to local conditions 

 than to any general migratory urge. In many parts of southwestern 

 California the black phoebe is the one resident fl3xatcher, Say's phoebe 

 and Cassin's kingbird occurring mainly as winter visitants, and the 

 remaining species as summer visitants or migrants. The black phoebe 

 is only sparingly distributed over the interior or more arid portion 

 of its territory, because of the scarcity of its preferred types of habitat. 



Although the black phoebe is for the most part a bird of 

 the lower altitudes in California, it is reported by various obser- 

 vers to nest occasionally at elevations of 4,000 to 6,000 feet, and 

 Major Bendire (1895) writes: "Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, United States 

 Army, informs me that he found a pair breeding at the reservoir 

 from which the town of Tombstone derives its water supply, in Mil- 

 lers Canyon, Huachuca Mountains, southern Arizona, on July 31, 

 1894. This is located in the Douglas spruce zone {Pseudotsuya [sic] 

 tttxifolia)^ at an altitude of about 8,000 feet." The general with- 

 drawal of the majority of the birds from the valleys or plains into 

 the foothill canyons in spring, as noted by Bendire in southern 

 Arizona, is undoubtedly represented to a certain extent throughout 

 the entire range, but only in a limited degree on the Pacific slope. 



Courtship. — In keeping with its unostentatious demeanor, the 

 courtship practices of the black phoebe are not such as to readily 

 attract attention, but Ralph Hoffmann (1927) states that "in the 

 mating season the male often makes a song flight, fluttering about in 

 the air, repeating ti-ti-ti for a few seconds and then slowly 

 descending." 



Nesting. — With respect to the localities frequented by nesting black 

 phoebes, the words of Grinnell and Storer (1924) may well be quoted : 



Black Phoebes are not distributed locally with the regularity observed in 

 shrubbery-inhabiting birds such as Wren-tits or Brown Towhees. The peculiar 

 nesting requirements of the phoebes probably account for this lack of uniformity 

 in their distribution. They must have sheltered faces of rocks or wooden 



