THE PHOEBE. 



{Sayornis phcebe.') 



Phccbe! is all it has to say 



In plaintive cadence o'er and o'er, 

 Like children that have lost their way, 



And know their names, but nothing more. 



— James Russell Lowell, "Phcebe. 



The homely and confiding Phoebes 

 are, perhaps, more generally esteemed 

 than any other birds. . They are favor- 

 ites with all who have made their ac- 

 quaintance, and are always welcome at 

 the North when they return in the spring 

 from their winter home. The farmer 

 realizes that their presence is a blessing 

 and, being careful not to molest them, 

 the Phcebes' confiding nature leads them 

 to seldom build their nests at any great 

 distance from human habitations in set- 

 tled districts. While their favorite nest- 

 ing sites are under bridges, cliffs of rock 

 and earth, in caves, and under protecting 

 rock shelves in quarries, they are almost, 

 if not quite, as well satisfied with suitable 

 places in barns or sheds and the porches 

 of houses. They have also been known 

 to nest in tin cans, and Mr. Dawson 

 speaks of a pair which nested in an old 

 coffee pot which was hanging on a nail 

 in a deserted cabin. The economic value 

 of the Phoebes is so well known that 

 they are seldom disturbed and their ten- 

 dency to nest near homes is constantly 

 encouraged. 



Mr. Chapman has well said : "There 

 is something familiar, trustful, and 

 homelike in the Phoebe's ways which has 

 won him an undisputed place in our af- 

 fections. 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 

 Inimhle monotonous pewit- phcebe, pewit- 

 phcebe — a hopelessly tuneless perform- 

 ance, but who that has heard it in early 

 spring when the 'pussy willow' seems al- 

 most to purr with soft blossoms, will not 

 affirm that Phoebe touches chords dumb 

 to more ambitious songsters." The 



Phoebe's reputation is hardly equalled by 

 any other birds. It is loved not for its 

 song nor for the splendor of its plumage, 

 bat because its life so well fits the say- 

 ing "handsome is that handsome does." 

 The Phoebes are insect catchers par ex- 

 cellence. They are devoted parents and 

 are never cruel. As a rule they exhibit 

 an amiable disposition toward other 

 birds, often nesting in close proximity 

 to some of them, but a pair will not al- 

 low others of their own kind to occupy a 

 nest close to their own. Some one has 

 said the "Phoebes are almost faultless." 

 A large portion of the United States 

 is favored with the presence of the Phoe- 

 bes. Their range covers eastern North 

 America, west to eastern Colorado and 

 western Texas, and from the Britisli 

 provinces southward to eastern Mexico 

 and Cuba. They breed from South Car- 

 olina northward and they winter from 

 the South Atlantic and Gulf States 

 southward. The Phoebes begin their 

 northward migration very early in the 

 season, and in the North they may well 

 be called heralds of spring, for they be- 

 gin to appear quite frequently very early 

 in March, when their welcome voices are 

 heard in their old haunts. They are the 

 first of the fly-catcher family to leave 

 their winter home, where there is such 

 an abundance of insect life. Can it be 

 possible that their deep love of home and 

 of a brood of care demanding young 

 hastens their departure toward their 

 summer home, where it is too early for 

 insects to be very abundant. They are 

 also the earliest of the fly-catchers to 

 breed and two or even three broods are 

 often raised in a season. The female per- 

 forms nearlv all the work of incubation, 



