THE BLACK PHCEBE. 27 



beetle crawling on the ground, and they make a 

 dive for it, not walking or even standing on the 

 ground, but supporting themselves by their wings 

 while they snatch it. Their feet, like the feet of 

 the humming-birds, are made for perching, not 

 for walking or standing on flat surfaces. 



Once our phoebe was late in relining her old 

 nest under our eaves in the box, and linnet laid 

 her own eggs in it. Phoebe came and told her, in 

 a very mournful voice, that the nest was hers; 

 that she had built it in the first place, and had 

 already occupied it four times. But linnet 

 would n't move out. She said she had "rented 

 the house for the season," and phcebe would have 

 to go somewhere else. At least, this is what we 

 supposed she was saying. 



Phoebe pulled at linnet's shoulder and said 

 harsher notes to her. Then she called father 

 phoebe, and they both tried to get linnet out of 

 the nest. Linnet poked her beak out at them as 

 if to fight them, but cuddled down more firmly 

 into the nest. Then she called father linnet, and 

 he argued. And they all four argued. At last 

 the phcebes gave it up, and went off to a neigh- 

 bor's barn. But they watched their turn, and 

 one day, as soon as the young linnets had tum- 

 Med out of the nest, phcebe took her place, nor 



