!28G 



THE OOLOGIST. 



abandoned and I saw no signs of any 

 of those birds in the vicinity. About 

 the middle of July, however, I again 

 visited it and found four or five young 

 birds just beginning to fly. 



Another nest was found about the 

 first of May, containing live eggs nearly 

 hatched. These were removed and 

 two weeks later there were four more 

 eggs. These were not disturbed. 1 

 visited the nest three or four times be- 

 fore the young were able to fly. Then 

 the nest was apparently abandoned for 

 about a week, when the birds again 

 took possession of it aud laid four eggs. 



I have found dozens of nests in which 

 I know lhat but oue brood was raised, 

 but I have also found many in June 

 and some as late as July, just in the 

 process of construction, and I am very 

 confident that this bird always rears 

 two, and possibly three broods each 

 season; and as I have shown it some- 

 times uses, the same nest for the second 

 brood. It does not, however, use the 

 same nest two years in succession, but 

 I have known it to tear an old nest to 

 pieces and build in the same place; and 

 I have known it to build the new nest 

 but a few inches from the old and to 

 use the greater part of the old nest in 

 building the new. 



The nest is made of dried grass, 

 thickly cemented with mud, aud cov- 

 ered, upon the outside, with a kind of 

 brown moss which it transplants so 

 neatly that it frequently takes root and 

 grows. The interior is lined, first with 

 a thick lajer of soft hay and then one 

 of feathers. Its walls are very thick 

 and strong, and considering the size of 

 the bird, the nest is rather large. In 

 size aud shape, and sometimes in loca- 

 tion, it resembles the nest of the Robin, 

 but its covering of moss prevents its 

 ever being mistaken for such. It has 

 been described as resembling the nest 

 of the Barn Swallow. It differs from 

 this however in its covering of moss 

 and it lias a greater proportion of hay 



mixed with the mud of its walls,though 

 not as much as that of the Robin. 

 Then, too, the nest of the Phcebe is in- 

 variably built upon a shelf or project- 

 ion, while that of the Barn Swallow is 

 almost always glued to the perpendicu- 

 lar side of a rafter and supported only 

 by the cohesion of its particles and its 

 adhesion to the rafter. 



The Phcebe always bnilds where 

 neither wind nor rain nor the direct 

 rays of the sun can reach its nest. I 

 have sometimes found its nest under a 

 bridge, but generally it prefers an open 

 woodshed or a dilapitated building. 

 In this immediate vicinity, where a 

 great quantity of maple sugar is made, 

 sugar houses are a favorite resort. It 

 frequently nests in barns, but I have 

 never found two nests occupying the 

 same building at the same time. In 

 choosing its location within a building 

 it seems to prefer the surface of a nar- 

 x'ow board, nailed to the under side of 

 the rafters or overlays. But it some- 

 times s elects exceedingly curious 

 places. 1 once found a nest built upon 

 the nest of a Chimney Swift. This nest 

 I described in the June number of the 

 Oologist, in an article entitled, -'Notes 

 upon the Barn Swallow." Ouce I 

 found one built against a beam and 

 resting only upon a large rail. I have 

 found several built in false mortices, 

 and one in an old chimney in a hole 

 from which a brick had been taken. 

 Another was on the top of a post about 

 siN feet from the ground, and still an- 

 other on a small horizontal pole sus- 

 pended by a rope in such a manner as 

 to be almost continually swinging. 



The eggs are of a milky whiteness, 

 with a round spot on the large end. of 

 a little different shade, which disap- 

 pears with the blowing. Sometimes, 

 but not often, there are very minute 

 black spots upon it. The number of 

 eggs in a nest varies from four to eight, 

 but five is by far the most common 

 number. After having completed the 



