CHAPTER XXIV. 



June 4 June 10. 



THE PHOEBE. 



Order Passeres. Suborder Clamatores. 



Family Tyrranidee Genus Sayornis. 



Species Sayornis phoebe. 



Length 6.25 to 7.00 ; wing, 3.25 to 3.55 ; tail, 3.00 to 3.40. 

 Migration North, March; south, October. 



"A little tuft of feathers gray 



That snaps its bill in eager glee 

 When e're a fly is caught on wing, 



Pull forty times calls out Phoebe." 



The phoebe is variously known as the phoebe bird, 

 peewit-flycatcher, gnat-catcher, and the bridge, barn, 

 and house pewee. Like its cousin the kingbird, it is a mem- 

 ber of the family Tyrranidse, which is composed of the fly- 

 catchers. In my earliest childhood a pair of these birds an- 

 nually nested under the roof and against the chimney of our 

 cabin home, and in season, I daily heard its plaintiff note. 



"So faint and far and yet so near, 

 'Pewee! pewee! pewee!'" 



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