Phoebe 193 



wall, for the boards were covered about the nest with 

 small spatters of mud. But this likely came from the 

 birds shaking their bills and flipping the mud off while 

 building. 



Both the mother and father fed the nestlings. They 

 often brought in large butterflies which were fed, 

 wings and all, to the children. The father phoebe seemed 

 the tamer of the two. A nearby fence post was his favor- 

 ite perch. He would jump into the air and glide closely 

 to the ground, a sharp click, a turn, and a graceful curve 

 back to the post. " Pee-we-e! Pee-we-e! " he would say, 

 as he teetered his loosely jointed tail. He seemed to talk 

 as much with his tail as with his mouth, for it was always 

 wagging. I often wondered that it did not get tired and 

 fall off, he bobbed it so much. 



I loved to watch phoebe for he had such an air of grace 

 and ease, he was so light and quick on the wing. The 

 highest accomplishment of a bird is its power of flight. 

 In this it differs from the other creatures except the insects 

 and the bat. The wing of the bird is built with the min- 

 imum of weight for the maximum of strength. The bones 

 and the quills are hollow, and the feathers are composed 

 of the lightest filaments joined together by minute hooks. 



The problem of flight seemed the simplest thing in the 

 world to phoebe, yet it has taxed the brains of the wisest 

 men to explain. The solution, as some one has given it, 

 is that the bend in the wing feathers forms a hollow under 

 the wing when it is spread. The downward motion of 

 the wing forces the bird up. But this alone would not 

 enable the bird to move forward. The muscles and the 

 bones of the front end of the wing are strong and rigid. 



