AMONG MY TENANTS. 



129 



Black Phoebe. 



(One half natural size.) 



up to the acacia beside the well and looked down 



anxiously, I put the pair on my calling list. It 



did not take many visits to 



prove my conclusion — there 



was a nest down in the well 



with white eggs in it. The 



phcebes were most trustful 



birds, and not only let Ca- 



nello tramp around their yard, 



but when a pump was put down 



the well, and water pumped up 



day by day, the brave parents, 



instead of deserting their eggs, went on brooding 



as if nothing had happened. 



Five years later, on going back to the ranch, I 



found the phcebes around the old place, but 



hunted in vain for the nest. A schoolhouse had 



been built in the interval, near the old adobe, 

 and the birds perched on 

 its gables, on the hitching 

 posts in front of it, and on 

 my prune-trees, that had 

 taken the place of the wil- 

 lows, across the road. They 

 even came up to my small 

 ranch-house and filled me 

 with delightful anticipa- 

 tions by inspecting the 

 beams of the piazza; but they could not find 

 what they wanted and flew off to build elsewhere. 



Eastern Phoebe. 

 (One half natural size.) 



