HHy REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



Their nests are still placed under the projecting rocks of a steep 

 bank, of a railway cut, and of quarries. Thus they cling to habit, for 

 such were their original homes. In the Falls region of southern Indi- 

 ana, they build beneath the Falls, protected by the shelving rocks. The 

 summer of 1897, while on a trip through Vermillion and Warren 

 counties, Mr. V. H. Barnett found a nest in a coal mine 20 feet from 

 the entrance. Some years they begin mating by March 17, and nest 



S^ift 





Phoebe. 

 (Beal. Farmer's Bulletin 54, United States Department of Agriculture, i>. KO 



building by March 26. I have found their complement of eggs April 

 18. Sometimes a second brood is reared. The birds appear to return 

 to the same site year after year. Incubation requires about 12 days, 

 most of which is done by the female. The following give the date at 

 which it was first seen, earliest and latest record, for the places men- 

 tioned: Brookville, March 1, 1881, March 29, 1892; Bicknell, March 

 9, 1896, March 24, 1895; Bloomington, March 2, 1893; Lafayette, 

 March 18, 1893, April 10, 1895; Kouts, March 20, 1896; Sedan, March 

 16, 1889, March 30, 1896. In fall they are silent through the latter 

 part of the summer, but just before leaving, their call may sometimes 

 be heard. The following dates give earliest and latest departure noted 

 for places named: Sandusky, 0., Oct. 10, 1896; Sedan, Oct. 11, 1893; 

 Greensburg, September 22, 1894, October 17, 1896; Brookville, Sep- 

 tember 28, 1885-6, October 14, 1890 ? and Bicknell, September 30, 



