342 FLYCATCHERS 



Woodpecker's holes in the trunk, and one of them walks out of sight 

 down a hollow limb. A Blackbird lights in the tree, and the Great- 

 crest above becomes so agitated that I am convinced his mate has gone 

 to her nest, when lo! both Flycatchers are off and away to another of the 

 great trees that overtop the forest. FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY. 



456. Sayornis phoebe (Lath.). PHCEBE. (Fig. 59.) Ads. Upperparts 

 grayish brown with an olive-green cast; crown distinctly darker, fuscous; 

 wings and tail fuscous, wing-bars not conspicuous; outer vane of outer tail- 

 feather white or yellowish white, except at the tip; underparts white, more 

 or less washed with yellowish, and tinged with brownish gray on the breast 

 and sides; bill black. Im. and Ads. in winter. Similar, but upperparts more 

 olive, underparts more yellow, and wing-bars more distinct. L., 6*99; W., 

 3'38; T., 2'95; B. from N., "41. 



Remarks. The Phoebe's principal distinguishing characters are its fus- 

 cous crown-cap, white outer vane of the outer tail-feather, and blackish 

 lower mandible. 



Range. E. N. Am. Breeds from sw. Mackenzie, Alberta, s. Keewatin, 

 Ont., Que., N. B., N. S., s. to ne. N. M., cen. Tex., n. Miss., and highlands 

 of Ga. ; winters in U. S. s. of lat. 37 s. to s. Mex. ; in migration casual w. to 

 Colo, and Wyo., accidental in Calif, and Cuba. 



Washington, common S. R., Feb. 25-Oct. ; occasionally winters. Ossin- 

 ing, common S. R., Men. 14-Oct. 29. Cambridge, common T. V., and not 

 uncommon S. R., Mch. 25-Oct. 10. N. Ohio, common S. R., Mch. 14-Oct. 

 15. Glen Ellyn, S. R., Mch. 13-Oct. 6. SE. Minn., common S. R,, Mch. 

 22-Oct. 11. 



Nest, bulky, largely moss and mud lined with grasses and long hairs, on 

 a beam or rafter, under a bridge or bank. Eggs, 4-6, white, rarely with a 

 few cinnamon-brown spots, *78 x '59. Date, Delaware Co., Pa., Apl. 18; 

 Cambridge, Apl. 28; Galesburg, Ills., Apl. 22; se. Minn., Apl. 19. 



There is something familiar, trustful, and homelike in the Phoebe's 

 ways which has won him an undisputed place in our affections. With 

 an assurance born of many welcomes he returns each year to his perch 

 on the bridge-rail, barnyard gate, or piazza, and contentedly sings his 

 humble, monotonous pewit phcebe, pewit phoebe a hopelessly tune- 

 less performance, but who that has heard it in early spring, when the 

 'pussy willow' seems almost to purr with soft blossoms, will not affirm 

 that Phoebe touches chords dumb to more ambitious songsters! 



Sometimes Phcebe is inspired to greater effort, and, springing into 

 the air on fluttering wings, he utters more phcebes in a few seconds 

 than he would sing ordinarily in an hour. 



Phcebe is a devoted parent, and is rarely found far from home. 

 His nest seems to be the favorite abode of an innumerable swarm of 

 parasites which sometimes cause the death of his offspring, and when 

 rearing a second family he changes his quarters. 



Aside from a few Great-crests, no other Flycatcher winters in num- 

 bers in our Southern States, and Phcebe's notes heard in January in 

 the heart of a Florida 'hummock' seem strangely out of place. 



SAY'S PHCEBE (457. Sayornis saya), a western species, is of accidental 

 occurrence east of the Mississippi. It has been found in northern Illinois, 

 Wisconsin, Iowa, and, on Cape Cod, Massachusetts (Miller, Auk, VII, 1890, 

 228). 



