XVII 

 PHOEBE 



THERE were plenty of other birds building new 

 spring homes about me, but Phoebe (Sayornis 

 nigricans) occupied more of my attention than all the 

 others. Perhaps it was because he was so retiring and 

 had such a quiet personality. There is as much differ- 

 ence in birds as in people. When a new neighbor moves 

 into a community all eyes are upon him. Shall he be 

 taken into fellowship? Will his friendship be desirable? 

 Certainly I would expect a phoebe to be received cordially 

 if gentility counted. But it didn't count in this case for 

 the neighborhood had already been settled by linnets. 



Just over the fence was a vine that covered our neigh- 

 bor's trellis. It had overrun its quarters and crawled 

 along the telephone wire up under the eaves. One morn- 

 ing I saw a phoebe sitting on a rose stake. In a moment 

 he flitted up under the eaves, and sat on the wire scanning 

 one of the brackets. His tail was tilting in quiet excite- 

 ment. He seemed to be looking for a home site, and the 

 bracket under the eaves was the best kind of a place. But 

 I have often been disappointed in finding the nest site 

 I should select does not exactly suit the bird. However, I 

 had great hopes that the phoebes would build opposite 

 just to offset the noisy linnets or house finches. 



In a few days there were two phoebes flitting back and 



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