THE 



Oregon ff^^f Naturalist. 



Vol. IV. Palestine, Oregon, February, 1897. No. 2. 



THE PHCEBE-BIRD. improvised bridge collapses at the critical mo- 



ment — and at the same lime reaching upward 



The Pewit flycatcher or Phoebe-bird, Sayornis about double the boyish heiglit. The delay thus 



fuscus, is one of the earliest birds to migrate involved can be easily obviated by takini^ along 



northward in the spring, reaching as it frequent- a bare-footed companion to 'Mjoost" the would- 



ly does, the latitude of 45° by the 8th. or loih. beoologist, who, of course, offers him as an in- 



of April, some time before Robin Redbreast ducement, to accompany him a share of the 



puts in his appearance. "swag." 



It is not a sociable bird ; it does not dehght As to its voice, you cannot expect to find 



in cities, towns or villages; it has no bright, ravishing notes issuing from it^ liiile throat; it 



iridescent hues, no "coat of many colors" to isacasewhere heredity is too much fur the poor 



attract the attention of ihe passer-by and draw fellow, for its Family, alas! Iielonj^s to the non- 



i.pon it the persecution of the fiendish feather melodious class of Perchers. Still it does tlu- 



hunter; it does not usually build its nests on al- best it can; and, on a .«tiil quiet evening in 



most inaccessable heights, there-by enhancing early spring, some time before birds begin to 



the value of the eggs it lays; nor again, does it arrive in such numoer? as to make the sight and 



possess sweet, melodious notes wherewith to sound of them common, its sweet, sad notes, 



enrapture those who frequent its haunts. repeated again and again, seem to strike a 



It is ashy creature delighting most in an un- responsive chord in our brtasts as we look out 



frequented place, where, with its mate, it can over the landscape, still shrouded in the gray 



live contentedly, untroubled by the "ceaseless and sombre hues of winter. Lowell seems to 



swarm of humanity." Its color is modest and have caught this inspiration, as witness the 



simple in the extreme, a veritable Quaker maid- following beautiful lines: 



er it is, in its unassuming, olive-hued coat, "it is a wee sad-colored thing, 



whose ends, not otherwise being able to meet, And shy and secret as a maid; 



, ,...,, 1 •,• 1 J • That, ere in choir there' >ns sing 



are brought tofrether by a whitish underpiece; t^. • 11 r ■ 1 



= == ■' VI Pipes Its own name hke one afraid. 



a faint splash of yellow on the abdomen is the , , . , , , „„,^ 



^ ' It seems fain prompted to repeat 



only attempt at relieving the monotony of this The story of some ancient ill 



gray, SOmbre-hued garb. But Phoebe! Phoebe! sadly sweet 



The nests are usually placed with seemingly no 



Is all it says and then is still." 



rv^ardfor the ubiquitous boy-collector. About The nests are built under bridges, stone 



the only impediment to the cause of science, culverts, rocks, and under the walls and against 



represented by our ceaseless juvenile investiga- the roofs of old houses and barns, a spot near a 



tors, is the difficulty in bridging a small but, creek, river or other damp spot seems to be 



nevertheless, wet stream— as our fearless "seek- preferred, perhaps on account of the easiness 



er-out of hidden things" experiences if this with which the mud and moss which form an 



