46 FOOD OF WEST VIRGINIA BIBDS 



about our homes and other buildings where it places its nest on any sort 

 of a projection that will support this compact structure of moss, mud, 

 grasses and hair. The Phoebe is insectivorous and destroys many click 

 beetles, May beetles, weevils, grasshoppers, flies and bugs. Since these 

 birds raise at least two broods each season, and each brood has from 

 four to six young, there are many hungry mouths to fill and the insects 

 required for the young greatly diminishes the insect population in the 

 vicinity of the nesting place. I have found this species feeding on the 

 fruit of the black mulberry, service berry, holly, common elder berry, 

 sassafras, wild black cherry and Virginia creeper. 



Of the other Flycatchers the Wood Pewee is most common. The 

 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher is very rare and the Olive-sided Flycatcher 

 is found only in our highest mountains. The Acadian Flycatcher is 

 common along streams and is a persistent foe of insects. The Least 

 Flycacher and the rare Alder Flycatcher are found only in our mountain 

 sections during the summer; during the migration seasons they may 

 be found elsewhere. A few years ago I made the most southern record 

 of the nesting of this species when I found them breeding in the Cran- 

 berry Glades in Pocahontas County. 



