294 BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



wells, under the eaves of buildings, or in barns, making the 

 nest sometimes on the top of a beam and sometimes attaching 

 it to the side. The eggs are about five, of a pure white. As 

 the nest and the young are so little concealed from observation, 

 they are often destroyed by boys taking early lessons in in- 

 humanity, and their parents little suspect how much such 

 practices can do to brutalize the character and moral feeling. 

 Audubon gives a very interesting account of a pair, which be- 

 came so familiar Avith his presence and so well satisfied of his 

 good intentions, that they made no objection to his going up 

 to their nest and handling the young. He tied threads round 

 the legs of some ; but not having any particular need of garters, 

 they or the old ones, always contrived to remove them. He 

 then made use of silver thread, which they could not displace, 

 and the next year found that some of those thus distinguished, 

 had returned to the same spot. After an absence of two years, 

 he revisited the spot, and found that one of the birds knew 

 him, while the other was distrustful and shy. On inquiry, it 

 appeared that a boy had killed the female and her young, and 

 that the old male had brought home a second wife, who knew 

 nothing of him as a friend of the family, while her husband 

 remembered him well. Before the country was settled, the 

 phoebe, no doubt, built its nest on the rocky banks of streams ; 

 but finding an advantage in acquaintance with man, it has 

 left its old haunts, when better can be found. 



The Olive-sided Fly-catcher, Muscicapa Cooperii, is de- 

 scribed by Nuttall, who first discovered and gave it a name. 

 He says that it is doubtless the same with the 3T. borcalis 

 of Richardson, though he became acquainted with it before 

 the publication of the ''Northern Zoology." The nest of this 

 bird is said to resemble that of the king-bird, and the eggs, 

 those of the wood pewee. Audubon confirms the fact that 

 this bird is found in Massachusetts, but the line of its migra- 

 tion he has not been able to ascertain. He considers it as a 

 new comer into the country. 



