38G 



THE OOLOGIST. 



ahaudouod and 1 saw no signs of any 

 of those birds in the vicinity. About 

 the middle of July, however, I again 

 visited it and found four or five young 

 birds just beginning to lly. 



Another nest was found about the 

 fir^t of May, containing five eggs nearly 

 hatched. These \\ ere removed and 

 two weeks later thei'e were four more 

 eggs. Tliese were not disturl)ed. 1 

 visited the nest three or four times be- 

 fore the young were able to tly. Then 

 the iH^st was aiii)areutly aljandoneti for 

 about a week, when the birds again 

 took possession of it and laid four eggs. 

 I have found dozens of nests in which 

 I know that but one brood was raised, 

 but I have also found Inany in June 

 and some as late as Jidy, just in the 

 process of construction, and I am very 

 confident that this bird always rears 

 two, and possibly three broods eacli 

 season; and as I have shown it some- 

 times uses the same nest for the second 

 brood. It does not, however, use the 

 same nest two years in succession, but 

 I have known it to tear an old nest to 

 pieces and build in the same place; and 

 I have known it to build the new nest 

 but a few inches from the old and to 

 use tlie greater part of the old nest in 

 l)uilding the new. 



'J'he nest is made of dried grass, 

 thickly cemented with mud, and cov- 

 ered, upon the outside, with a kind of 

 brow 11 moss which it transplants so 

 neatly ihnt it fn^tuently takes root and 

 grows. The interior is"lined, first with 

 a thick hijer of soft hay and then one 

 of feathers. Its walls are very thick 

 and strong, and considering the size of 

 the bird, the Lest is rather large. In 

 size and shape, and sometimes in loca- 

 tion, it resembles the nest of the Robin, 

 but its covering of moss prevents its 

 ever biing mistaken for such. It has 

 been describad as resembling the nest 

 of the Barn Swallow. It dilfers from 

 this however in its covering of moss 

 and it has a gieater proportion of hay 



mixed with the mud of its walls, though 

 not as much as that of the Robin. 

 Then, too, the nest of the Phoebe is in- 

 variably built upon a shelf or project- 

 ion, while that of the Barn Swallow is 

 almost always glued to the perjjendicu- 

 lar side of a rafter and supported only ^ 

 by the cohesion of its particles and its 

 adhesion to the rafter. 



The Phojbe always bnilds where 

 neither wind nor rain nor the direct 

 rays of the sun can reach its nest. I 

 have sometimes found its nest under a 

 bridge, but generally it prefers an open 

 woodslu'd or a dilapitated jjuilding. 

 In this immediate vicinity, where a 

 great (juautity of maple sugar is made, 

 sugar houses are a favorite resort. It 

 fre(iuently nests in barns, but I have 

 never found two net>ts occupying the 

 same building at the same time. In 

 choosing its location within a building 

 it seems to prefei the surface of a nar- 

 row board, nailed to the under side of 

 the lafters or overlays. But it some- 

 times !■ elects exceedingly curious 

 phices. ] once found a nest built upon 

 the nest of a Chimney Swift. This nest 

 I (iescribed in the June number of the 

 OciLOGiST, in an article entitled, -'Notes 

 upon the Barn Swallow." Once I 

 found one built against a beam and 

 resiing only upon a large rail. I have 

 foiiiid sevctral built in false mortices, 

 aii<l one in an old chimney in a hole 

 from which a brick had been taken. 

 Another was on the top of a post about 

 six feet from the ground, and still au- 

 otl.er on a small horizontal pole sus- 

 pended by a rope in such a manner as 

 to lie almost continually swinging. 



'I'he eggs are of a milky whiteness, 

 with a round spot on the large end. of 

 a little diti'erent shade, which disap- 

 pears with the blowing. Sometimes, 

 but not often, there are very minute 

 bhick spots upon it. The number of 

 eggs in a nest varies from four to eight, 

 but live is by far the most common 

 number. After having completed the 



