124 PHBE, 
rings out above all other birds’ notes. What/ he seems 
to say, and, as though hearing something which not only 
surprised but amused him, follows this call with a chuck- 
ling whistle. 
The Greatcrest arrives from the south about May 7, 
and remains until September. Nesting is begun early in 
. June, a hollow limb being the home usually selected. In 
collecting its nesting materials, the bird displays a very 
singular trait, and gives evidence of the stability of habit. 
With rare exceptions it places a bit of cast snake-skin in 
its nest. Various reasons have been advanced to account 
for this singular habit, but none of them is satisfactory. 
Recently Lieutenant Wirt Robinson has discovered that 
one of the commonest and most generally distributed spe- 
cies of this genus in South America places tast snake-skin 
in its nest, and it is well known that the Arizona Crested 
Flycatcher follows the same custom. The habit is there- 
fore widespread, and is common to birds living under 
greatly varying conditions. Rather than consider it of 
especial significance in each species, it seems more reason- 
able to believe that it is an inheritance from a common 
ancestor, and has no connection with the present sur- 
roundings of at least those species living so far from the 
center of distribution of this tropical genus as our Myi- 
archus crinitus. 
The Phoebe is domestic ; he prefers the haunts, or, at 
least, handiwork of man, and when not nesting on a beam 
Phabe, i a barn, shed, or piazza, selects the 
Sayornis phebe. Shelter of a bridge for a home. Here 
Plate XXXII. he places his nest of moss and mud; a 
structure of generous proportions, for the Phoebe’s family 
may number five or six. A 
Flycatchers, because of the nature of their food, usu- 
ally make extended migrations. For the same reason 
they arrive late in the spring and depart early in the 
