MARCH 353 
low belly, who builds in a tree hole well above the ground, 
and uses dried snake skins among his materials when he 
can get them, is another relative, and the largest of the 
family; while a third is the little Wood-pewee, of the dark 
olive-brown coat and two whitish wing-bars, who saddles 
his lichen-covered nest, as dainty as that of a Humming- 
bird high up on a limb, and calls his plaintive note, ‘ Pee- 
wee-pee-a-wee peer,’ through the aisles of the deep woods, 
as constantly as Phoebe lets her name be known in a more 
shrill and rasping voice to the barn-yard flock. 
“These and several other flycatchers do not come to us 
until May, but the Pheebe of all his tribes trusts his liveli- 
hood to the care of gusty March. Perhaps it is the early 
return that makes the Phoebe so friendly and causes 
it to choose either a site by the water or near a house. 
Insect life awakes much more quickly in gardens and about 
the farm-yards, or near open running water, than in the 
remote woods; for certain it is that no other member of 
the family is so easily domesticated. 
“The Phoebe not only eats the earliest insects that 
appear, but it has peculiarly constructed eyes, like the 
Whip-poor-will and Night Hawk; it can catch its food until 
the end of twilight, so that it kills many bugs that hide all 
day. Among the hurtful insects that it catches are the 
click-beetle, brown-tail moth, canker-worm moth, and the 
elm beetle. As a berry-eater no one can find fault with it, 
as when late in a dry season it takes a little fruit, wild 
berries supply the need. 
“All this should be a hint to us to leave a few nooks 
about the place for a pair of Phcebes to appropriate for 
a homestead; a little shelf under suitable shelter is all 
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