278 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTII AMERICAN BIRDS. 



generally arrived during the third week in March, the males preceding the 

 females about a week, and nest repairing or building commenced about the latter 

 part of this month. I have taken a full set of eggs, containing small embryos, 

 on April 17, 1871. Here they nested mostly under the eaves of outhouses and 

 stables; but one pair selected the plate or rail over the main door of my 

 quarters, and another a corner on the hospital porch. In this vicinity I also 

 found a pair occupying an old Cliff Swallow's nest attached to an overhanging 

 ledge of rock in Soldiers' Canyon, on the road to Lewiston, Idaho, and another 

 in a very unusual position in the same canyon, in an old Robin's nest, placed in 

 a syringa bush, about 4 feet from the ground. 



Mi*. R. S. Williams found Say's Phoebe nesting in a deep canyon near the 

 Crooked Falls of the Missouri, Montana, and sent two sets of eggs to the United 

 States National Museum from there. These nests were placed on a slightly pro- 

 jecting ledge of rocks, and were well protected by overhanging walls. The first, 

 containing six eggs, was taken May 21, 1888; the other was obtained on June 

 3, 1889. 



Mr. W. G. Smith reports Say's Phoebe as common in Larimer County, Colo- 

 rado, where it usually nests under bridges and in sheds and barns. He says it 

 builds a bulky nest, mostly composed of wool, and if its eggs are taken or 

 destroyed it often lays three clutches during a season, and not infrequently in 

 the same place. 



In Colorado it reaches an altitude of about 7,000 feet, and here Mr. J. Alden 

 Loring reports it as not uncommon at Grand Junction, and Mr. Denis Gale found 

 it breeding near Gold Hill on June 25, 1885 ; but it is evidently much more com- 

 mon throughout the Great Basin region in southern Idaho, Utah, Nevada, and 

 eastern California, where its center of abundance occurs. While Say's Phoebe 

 is fairly common in suitable localities in northern California, as in the vicinity 

 of Red Bluff, Tehama County, Mr. F. Stephens reports it as a rare summer 

 resident in the southern parts of this State, and says: "It is more common in 

 winter, though scarcely common then. It breeds early along the western 

 borders of the Colorado Desert, where I have found nests containing young in 

 the latter part of March. The nests were placed on shelves under overhanging 

 parts of cliffs, in shallow caves and similar places; the eggs usually numbered 

 four; the nests were built of soft fibers; no mud was used; and I have seen none 

 near water. These birds are generally seen singty except in the breeding* sea- 

 son; they inhabit open country and are never seen in forests. On June 1, 

 1893, I flushed a Say's Phoebe from a nest containing fresh eggs near Witch 

 Creek, California. The nest was placed under a shelf of rock on a small cliff 

 over a brook. The nest, of mud, looked like the nest of Sayornis nigricans, and 

 perhaps was an old one of that species relined. This is the first time I have 

 found this species nesting on the west side of the mountains, while on the desert 

 side they breed regularly." 



Mr. John Swinburne found this species nesting at St. Johns, Apache County, 

 and Mr. W. E. D. Scott gives it as a rather rare summer resident in the Catalina 

 Mountains, Arizona, while I observed it in the vicinity of Tucson in winter only. 



