SAY'S PHCEBE. 279 



Mr. A. W. Anthony writes me: "I found Say's Phoebe breeding in compara- 

 tive abundance near Apache, in the extreme southwestern corner of New Mexico, 

 in the midst of a very dry and barren range of hills, in May, migrating after 

 the first brood was raised, about June 20, and not seen again until September. 

 Old tunnels and abandoned mining shafts are favorite nesting sites with them, 

 nests having been found by me in Lower California, 25 feet from the surface, 

 in prospect holes. At Apache I took a nest with four fresh eggs on May 23, 

 1886, and near San Diego, California, I found one in an old embankment, on 

 August 8, containing young and eggs." A nest taken by Mr. J. A. Loring, in 

 Nephi, Utah, July 1, 1893, was placed in the top of an old straw hat. 



Both Mr. L. Belding and Mr. A. W. Anthony have met with this species 

 in Lower California, during the breeding season; and it probably breeds also in 

 northwestern Texas and northern Mexico. It returns from its summer haunts 

 in the northern parts of its range usually about September, and winters to some 

 extent in the southwestern parts of the United States; the majority, however, 

 pass south into Mexico. In the more southern portions of its breeding range 

 Say's Phoebe begins nesting early in March ; in the middle parts rarely before 

 May 1, and in the extreme .northern limits of its range not until June. 



Two broods are usually raised in a season, and, under favorable* circum- 

 stances, possibly even three. This species is fully as much at home about human 

 habitations, and seems to adapt itself even more readily to the changed condi- 

 tions of its surroundings than its eastern relative, and about every cattle ranch, 

 stage station, or mining camp a pair or more of these birds will surely select a 

 nesting site, if a suitable location can be found. 



Besides the various localities already mentioned in which Say's Phoebe has 

 been found nesting, burrows of Bank Swallows are also occasionally occupied. 

 Ordinarily mud is not used 'in the construction of their nests; which are rather 

 flat structures; the base usually consists of weed stems, dry grasses, moss, plant 

 fibers of different kinds, wool, empty cocoons, spider webs and hah, the inner 

 lining being generally composed of wool or hair alone. A well-preserved nest, 

 now before me, from the Crooked Falls of the Missouri, Montana, taken by Mr. 

 R. S. Williams, June 3, 1889, measures.5 J inches in outer diameter by 2£ inches 

 in height, the inner cup being 2\ inches by \\ inches in depth. This is a com- 

 pactly built structure, the materials composing it being well worked together, 

 and it is warmly lined with cattle hair. 



The number of eggs to a set varies from three to six; usually four or five 

 are found, and one is deposited daily. Incubation lasts about twelve days; the 

 young are fed entirely on insects, mainly on small butterflies, which are abun- 

 dant about that •time, and they are ready to leave the nest in about two weeks, 

 when the male takes charge of them, the female in the meantime getting ready 

 for a second brood. The eggs are ovate and short ovate in shape, and resemble 

 those of the common Phoebe in every respect excepting that they are a trifle 

 larger in size. 



The average measurement of forty-four eggs in the United States National 

 Museum collection is 19.50 \>y 14.90 millimetres, or about 0.77 by 0.59 inch. 



