1913 BIRDS OF THK FRESNO DISTRICT 61 



a week they gradually disappear, and none of them have been found nesting within 

 the Fresno district, although it would not be surprising to find a breeding pair 

 some summer along the river. August 9 and 10, 1905, I noticed several appar- 

 ently immature birds along the river below Pollasky. 



May 25, 1906, Ash-throated Flycatchers were noted in some numbers along 

 the Gould ditch, south of Clovis, as also on April 21. 1908, while May 21, 191 1, 

 they were again present. The breeding season must be a brief one with this 

 species as it appears again during the first week in September. In 1906 I saw a 

 single individual in an orchard September 6, and collected a specimen near Clovis 

 September 4. 191 1. This was a bird of the year with much down in its plumage, 

 and was surprisingly fat. 



During the time these birds are with us they frequent the willows along 

 canals, peach orchards, and occasionally the dry weeds in neglected fields. They 

 are quite silent in the fall, but at the time of their spring visits they sometimes 

 utter their bickering challenge when too closely approached. 



Say Phoebe. Sayomis sayus (Bonaparte). 



Those who have not been so fortunate as to hear the song of a Say Phoebe 

 have missed a rare treat. It may be that this song is heard more frequently on 

 the birds' nesting grounds, but here in the Fresno district where the species oc- 

 curs only as a winter visitant it is heard all too rarely. In fact. I was several 

 years in the country before I ever heard it, and even then it seemed hard to be- 

 lieve that such a plainly clad little creature could be producing such a pleasing 

 variety of warbling notes. However, the fact that this bird's desire to sing some- 

 times seizes it on a gloomy, dark, foggy December day. when even the Mock- 

 ingbirds are silent, may have something to do with the pleasing quality of the 

 music. 



This Phoebe appears during the second or third week in September, and de- 

 parts during the last week in March, my earliest and latest records being Sep- 

 tember 12 (1904) and April i (1906). Say Phoebes share with the Audubon 

 Warblers a habit of catching flies from a window, sometimes spending days at a 

 time near a house, where they make frequent quick flights from some perch to 

 seize a fly that has appeared on the glass. I have noticed that the south side of a 

 building is generally selected as a place in which to carry on these fly-catching 

 expeditions. Probably these places are chosen on account of their food being 

 more plentiful, rather than from any desire of the birds to perch in the sunlight. 



Black Phoebe. Sayomis nigricans (Swainson). 



Black Phoebes are common residents of nearly all the lower portions of the 

 valley but can hardly be considered very numerous anywhere. I have always 

 thought that there must be a fall migration, involving, perhaps, only the young 

 of the vear, as the number of phoebes never seems to increase or decrease from 

 year to year. During the winter months these birds are more in evidence than 

 at the time of nesting, but they are not at all conspicuous at any time. So far as 

 my observations go they have no preference as to the type of country they fre- 

 quent, the chief requisite being the proximity of water. I have observed Black 

 Phoebes sitting quietly on a fence wire near some foothill creek, and have found 

 them along the irrigation ditches near Clovis. while they seem equally at home 

 around the large sloughs on the west side. 



