XLVH 



PHOEBE; BRIDGE BIRD; WATER PEWEE 

 456. Sayornis phoebe 



After the arrival of the Prairie Horned Lark, Blue- 

 bird and Robin, our earliest spring birds, comes the 

 little seven-inch-long Phoebe, adobe or mud nest-building, 

 Bridge or Culvert Bird. The male arrives two weeks in 

 advance of the female. The little plasterer the male 

 does not assist in the building with moss and mud fres- 

 coes her future home on the sides of the bridge stone- 

 work, and if a deep pool of water is underneath the 

 bridge all the better for Phoebe's choice. In it she 

 lays four white eggs. The male, while shirking the plas- 

 ter work, is faithful in feeding the female during incu- 

 bation and in caring for the young. (Fig. 75.) 



In unsettled localities Phoebes build under overhang- 

 ing rocks near streams and other damp places. How- 

 ever, these birds prefer man-built bridges, not because 

 man has built them, but because about them man has 

 made open pastures and broad lanes, where the Phoebe 

 loves to perch on a dead twig while watching for its flying 

 food supply. As it patiently awaits the flying moth its 

 tail is ever twitching and over and over it repeats its 

 plaintive call, " Phoebe, Phoebe!" 



These birds are skilful flyers and artful flycatchers. 

 A moth wandering into a Phoebe's range rarely escapes 

 the quick snap of the bird's mandibles. Once, on the 

 twenty-eighth of May, I watched the parents of three 

 young Phoebes that had left the nest, gathering moths 

 and other insects and feeding them to the young birds. 

 The rapidity and accuracy with which they accomplished 

 this task was a surprise. The old birds did not pause a 

 second after catching a miller before delivering it to 

 the young; this was managed exactly as a Humming- 

 bird probes a honeysuckle that is without alighting dur- 

 ing the act of feeding. 



The Phoebe, a confiding little creature, appeals to 

 all bird-lovers. It is so demure in manner that it at 



146 



