A PHCEBE'S NESTS AND YOUNG 



jBtote^ from JTielti anti ^tutip 



A Phcebe With Three Nests 



In Bird-Lore Vol. Ill, pp. 85-87, John 

 Burroughs has contributed an article en- 

 titled 'A Bewildered Phoebe,' in which he 

 shows that this bird evidently became con- 

 fused in the selection of a nesting site in an 

 environment to which it was likely unac- 

 customed. As Mr. Burroughs saw fit to 

 interfere with the bird's labor in completing 

 the five nests, the foundations of which she 

 had begun, the reader can only conjecture 

 as to what the results might have been in 

 this case had she been left undisturbed. I, 

 fortunately, had the opportunity of observ- 

 ing the Phoebe nest under conditions simi- 

 lar to those described by Mr. Burroughs; 

 and, as the birds were left to carry on their 

 work, I thought the results might prove in- 

 teresting in connection with those given by 

 him. 



The site selected for nest-building was 

 upon a horizontal beam over the entrance 

 to a wood-shed. Upon this beam were 

 three pieces of studding, at distances of fif- 

 teen inches apart and extending perpen- 

 dicular to a floor above. At each end of 

 the beam a piece of studding formed an 

 acute angle with the beam, presenting a 

 quite different appearance from those where 

 the three nests were built. It may be seen 

 by the accompanying picture that the three 

 nesting sites are exactly similar. The nest- 

 building was begun May 5, both birds 



taking part in the work, and ended May 20- 

 Nests numbers i and 2 were completed 

 about the same time and the foundation for 

 number 3 laid. Number 3 was then about 

 three-fourths completed, after which two 

 eggs were laid in number 2 ; one egg in 

 number i, and two eggs in number 3, upon 

 which the bird began sitting May 26, and 

 June 10 hatched the two young shown in 

 the picture. June 23, they left the nest. 

 The parent birds are seen about these 

 nests occasionally, but have shown no ten- 

 dency to build again this season. — A. C. 

 Dike, Bristol, Ft. 



Swallow's Nest on Board Boat * 



I recently wrote to Captain Harris, for- 

 merly of the steamer Horicon, on Lake 

 George, New York, inquiring if the Swal- 

 lows which, in the summer of 1900, nested 

 beneath the guard-rails of his steamer had, 

 in the three succeeding years, nested in 

 similar places. His prompt reply was to 

 the effect that "the Swallows have built 

 their nests under the guard-rails of the 

 various steamers which I have been running 

 [I judge upon Lake George] for the past 

 fifty-five years." The Captain is now retired 

 from duty, but inquired of his son, the pilot 

 of the new steamer Sagamore, regarding 

 the habits of the birds in the past two sea- 



* In Bird-Lore, Vol. Ill, p. no, Mr. Gates recorded 

 the strange habit of Swallows which built their nests on 

 a steamer and apparently accompanied her on her daily 

 trips of eighty miles. 



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