FLYCATCHERS 



201 



BLACK PHCEBE 

 Sayornis nigricans {S^cainson) 



A. < 1, r. XvimlitT .is8 



Other Names.— Western Black Pewec ; Black- 

 lu-adcd I'lycatchcr. 



General Description. — Length, 7^ inches. Upper 

 parts, sooty-slate ; under parts, sooty-slate and white. 

 Tail, emarginate. 



Color. — General color, plain dark sooty-slate, the 

 head darker (almost black), the back, shoulders, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts brownish-slate color; abdomen, 

 anal region, and under tail-coverts, white, the last 

 sometimes frequently streaked centrally with dusky : 

 middle winR-coverts, broadly tipped or terminally mar- 

 gined with brownish-gray; greater coverts, edged with 

 brownish-gray and tipped with the same or paler 

 brownish-gray; secondaries, edged with pale brownish- 

 gray or dull white; outer web of lateral tail-feathers 

 edged with white ; under wing-coverts dark sooty-gray 

 or brownish-slate, their outer wel)s mostly white and 



inner webs extensively white at tip ; inner webs of 

 wing feathers edged with pale brownish-gray; bill, 

 black ; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In sheltered situations, 

 under bridges, caves, ledges in wells or deserted cabins 

 or houses; a rather large structure of mud pellets, 

 dried grass, bits of wood and vegetable fiber, and hair, 

 lined with feathers. Eggs: 3 to 6, |)lain white or 

 rarely finely and sparsely dotted with chestnut chiefly 

 aroinid larger end. 



Distribution. — Pacific coast district of United States ; 

 breeds from southwestern Oregon through California 

 (west of the Sierra Nevada) to Cape San Lucas dis- 

 trict. Lower California, eastward through southern 

 California, southern Arizona, and southern New Mexico 

 to central Texas, and over Mexico, except humid 

 .Atlantic coast district, to Yucatan. 



The Rlack Phoebe is a little larger than the 

 Phixbe of the East. The black and white of his 

 plumage are sharply contrasted and his friends 

 consider him the handsomest of the Flycatchers. 

 His manners are quiet; he is so demure that he 

 is almost staid. The comforts of civilization are 

 matters of indifiference to him. You may meet 

 a Black Phoebe in town to-day and find his nest 

 under the eaves of a kitchen, and to-morrow vou 



may find his brother living just as contentedly 

 in a lonely cai'ion. 



His note is a quiet liquid hip, and is usually 

 heard as he darts from perch to perch. 



The laboratory investigation of this bird's 

 food showed that about 99j/j per cent, of its 

 food consisted of animal matter. Useful beetles 

 amounted to about 3 per cent, of the food. Other 

 beetles of harmful or neutral species reached 



Photo by W. L. Finley and H. T. Bohlman 



BLACK PH(EBE 

 Just returning with food for young 



