276 LIFE HISTORIES OP NOKTH AMERICAN BIEDS. 



opened its mandibles to be fed. I was standing- within 4 feet of the nest all 

 the time. The moth of the cutworm seems to be one of the favorite foods of the 

 young. 



The Phoebe is one of the last of our Flycatchers to leave its summer home, 

 usually remaining in our Northern States till the latter part of September, and in 

 favorable seasons even later. Mr. R. M. Kirby Smith writes me from Sewanee, 

 Tennessee, that he noticed this species at different times during the months of 

 January, February, and March, and believes that some winter there, which is 

 quite probable, as numbers remain in Florida and the Gulf Coast generally 

 throughout this season. 



The number of eggs to a set varies from three to eight; sets of five are 

 most commonly found, while the extremes are very rare; an egg is deposited 

 daily, and the Phoebe is not infrequently imposed upon by the Cowbird, where 

 this pest is common. There are several sets in the United States National 

 Museum collection containing one or two of these parasitic eggs. The Phoebe's 

 egg is usually pure white in color; the shell is close-grained, smooth, and 

 moderately glossy, which gradually disappears in time, leaving the shell a dull 

 chalky white. Occasionally some of these eggs are more or less perceptibly 

 spotted, with a few specks of reddish brown about the larger end, but usually 

 only one or two in a clutch are so marked, while the majority of sets are 

 immaculate. The eggs are mostly ovate in shape. 



The average measurement of one hundred and twelve eggs in the United 

 States National Museum collection is 19.05 by 14.48 millimetres, or 0.75 by 0.57 

 inch. The largest egg of the series measures 20.32 by 14.99 millimetres, or 0.80 

 by 0.59 inch; the smallest, 16.76 by 13.72 millimetres, or 0.66 by 0.54 inch. 



The type specimen, No. 25587 (PI. 1, Fig. 28), from a set of five eggs from 

 the Ralph collection, slightly spotted, was taken near Floyd, Oneida County, 

 New 'York, May 17, 1890, and the nest, of which measurements and a detailed 

 description have been given above, is the one from which this egg was taken. 



103. Sayornis saya (Bonapaete). 



SAY'S PHOEBE. 



Muscicapa saya Bonaparte, American Ornithology, I, 1825, 20. 

 Sayornis sayus Baird, Birds of North America, 1858, 185. 



(B 136, C 250, B 316, C 377, TJ 457.) 



Geographical range: Western North America; eastward to western Saskatchewan 

 and Assiniboia, Dominion of Canada, and iu the United States to eastern Montana, western 

 South Dakota (?), western Nebraska, western Kansas, and western Texas; north to Fort 

 Yukon, Alaska, and Fort Simpson, Northwest Territory, Dominion of Canada; south to 

 Lower California and through Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas; in winter to 

 Puebla and Vera Cruz, Mexico. Accidental in Massachusetts. 



Say's Phoebe, a somewhat larger bird than the eastern representative of 

 this genus, and which it replaces in western North America, has likewise a wide 

 distribution, the northern limits of its breeding range in Alaska reaching within 



