240 



FLYCATCHERS. 



on the breast and sides ; bill hlach /m.— Similar, but upper parts more olive, 

 under parts more yellow, and wing-bars more distinct. L., 6-99 ; W., 3-38 ; 

 T., 2-95; B. from N., -41. 



Remarks.— "Y:h& Phoebe's principal distinguishing characters are its fus- 

 cous crown-cap, white outer vane of the outer tail-feather, and blackish lower 

 mandible. 



^a/i^e.— Eastern North America; breeds from South Carolina to New- 

 foundland and Manitoba, and winters from North Carolina to Cuba and 

 Mexico. 



Washington, common S. E., Mch. 5 to (3ct. ; occasionally winters. Sing 

 Sing, common S. R., Mch. 14 to Oct. 29, Cambridge, common S. R., Mch. 25 

 to Oct. 10. 



Nest., bulky, largely moss and mud lined with grasses and long hairs, on 

 a beam or rafter, under a bridge or bank. Eggs., four to six, white, rarely 

 with a few cinnamon-brown spots, '78 x -59. 



There is something familiar, trustful, and homelike in the Phoebe's 

 ways which has won him an undisputed place in our affections. With 

 an assurance born of many welcomes he returns each year to his perch 

 on the bridge-rail, barnyard gate, or piazza, and contentedly sings his 

 humble, monotonous peivit phoehe, peivit phosbe—si hopelessly tune- 

 less performance, but who that has heard it in early spring w^hen the 

 "pussy willow" seems almost to purr with soft blossoms, will not 

 affirm that Phoebe touches chords dumb to more ambitious songsters ! 



Sometimes Phoebe is inspired to greater effort, and, springing into 

 the air on fluttering wings, he utters more phoebes in a few seconds 

 than he would sing ordinarily in an hour. 



Phoebe is a devoted parent, and is rarely found far from home. 

 His nest seems to be the favorite abode of an innumerable swarm of 

 parasites which sometimes cause the death of his offspring, and when 

 rearing a second family he changes his quarters. 



No other Flycatcher wint-ers in numbers in our Southern States, 

 and Phoebes' notes heard in January in the heart of a Florida " hum- 

 mock" seem strangely out of place. 



Say's Phcebe (4-57. Saijornis saya), a western species, is of accidental 

 occurrence east of the Mississippi. It has been found in northern Illinois, 

 Wisconsin, Iowa, and, more recently, on Cape Cod, Massachusetts (Miller, 

 Auk, vii, 1890, p. 228). 



459. Contopusborealis(.S'?f'rti«s.). Olive-sided Flycatcher. Ad. 

 —Upper parts between fuscous and dark olive ; wings and tail fuscous ; throat, 

 middle of the belly, and generally a narrow line on the center of the breast 

 white or yellowish white; rest of the under parts of nearly the same color as 

 the back ; under tail-coverts marked with dusky ; a tuft of flufy, yellowish- 

 white featJiers on either tlank ; upper mandible black, lower mandible yel- 

 lowish or pale grayish brown, the tip darker. //«.— Similar, but with rather 



