THE PHCEBE. 275 



etc., occasionally furnish suitable sites; overhanging rocky shelves, especially 

 in quarries, upturned roots of trees in woods, projecting hanks of small streams, 

 caves, and more rarely the sides of open wells are likewise utilized for such 

 purposes. 



Their nests vary considerably in shape as well as in the manner of con- 

 struction. If attached to the side of an overhanging rock, it is necessarily 

 semicircular, and mainly composed of mud pellets mixed with moss, a little 

 grass, and occasionally a few feathers, somewhat resembling the nest of our well- 

 known Barn Swallow. If placed on a flat beam, or rafter, or on top of a post, 

 it is circular, and sometimes but little or no mud is used in its construction. 



A well-preserved nest, No. 25587, taken by Dr. William L. Ralph, near 

 Floyd, Oneida County, New York, on May 17, 1890, was found in a swampy 

 part of a large wooded tract, about 5 feet above the ground, and underneath the 

 roots of a partly overturned tree; the upper parts of the roots had fallen over 

 and the nest was behind this, placed on two small, swing-like roots that crossed 

 each other at right angles. It is mostly composed of mud and partly covered on 

 the outside with moss, dead leaves, a little fern down, and a few pieces of grass, 

 and lined with horsehairs, fine roots, dry mosses, grasses, etc. It measures 4£ 

 inches in outer diameter by 4 inches in height, the inner cup being 2£ inches 

 across by 1^ inches in depth. It is a neat, symmetrical, and compactly built 

 structure. 



Mr. J. W. Preston, of Baxter, Iowa, writes me: "A pair of Phcebes have a 

 nest on a post in our barn, just below the hay, over the feed room, to which they 

 return year after year, having varying success and exhibiting a rare persistence 

 of purpose. One season the eggs were destroyed by mice, and yet a second 

 attempt was made, and the brood came off rather late. Then another season 

 the young died in the nest from some cause, or were killed, and the parents 

 crowded them onto the outer walls, where they hung for more than a year, 

 seemingly not at all in the way of the old birds." When the nest is repeatedly 

 used, the old inner lining is mostly removed and replaced by new material. 



Incubation lasts about twelve days, and the female performs the greater 

 part of this duty, while the male remains in the vicinity of the nest on the 

 watch for possible intruders. The female is a close sitter and is loath to leave 

 her nest. Dr. Ralph tells me of an instance where he found a Phcebe sitting on 

 a couple of eggs and a small pebble, which had accidentally fallen into the nest 

 and cracked some of the eggs. The young are large enough to leave the nest in 

 about two weeks, and a second brood is usually reared throughout the greater 

 part of their range. 



The nestlings are fed entirely on insect food, and consume an enormous 

 quantity daily. The female rarely leaves the nest to go any considerable distance 

 to gather the necessary supplies, but the male makes more extended excursions. 

 I have observed a pair of these birds feeding their young; one seemed to require 

 considerable coaxing to take the proffered morsel, and although some of the 

 others clamored loudly for it the parent would not let them have it, and gently 

 touched the sides of the bill of the sleepy youngster several times until it finally 



