268 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



the shoulders. The top of the head is gray, the under parts are 

 plain grayish white, the throat and upper breast marked with a 

 broad patch of black. The female is plain dull grayish brown, 

 without chestnut-brown marks or black breast mark. 



The English Sparrow, introduced into America in 1850, and 

 especially common everywhere about cities, is abundant in many 

 places in the Park, staying about farm buildings. It is not found 

 far away from buildings, however. 



It has no song, but utters a large number of loud, rather harsh, 

 chattering noises, and flocks of the birds keep up an incessant 

 clatter. 



The nest is a mass of grasses or twigs, lined with feathers. It is 

 placed in any crack or crevice of a building, occasionally in a hole 

 in a tree, and sometimes on top of a horizontal limb, in which case 

 the nest is arched over with the entrance in one side. 



Phcebe. Sayomis phoebe (Lath.) 



The Phcebe is a little larger than the English Sparrow and plain 

 grayish brown on the upper parts, darker on the head, and grayish 

 white beneath. There are two faint, light wing bars. While the 

 bird has no very distinctive marks or colors, the flycatcher shape, 

 with rather large head, and the habit of sitting still on a perch, — 

 flirting the tail at intervals, — will distinguish it from all except 

 Flycatchers ; while the size well separates it from the larger King- 

 bird and Crested Flycatcher, and the smaller Wood Pewee and 

 Least Flycatcher. 



The Phoebe is a common bird in the Park, being found mainly 

 near buildings or bridges, in open country. It frequents orchards 

 and shade trees, and likes the vicinity of water where small flying 

 insects abound. Sometimes it is seen near rocks that afford it 

 nesting sites. Several pairs were nesting and feeding young at 

 Quaker Bridge, and it was noted in all the valleys near farm build- 

 ings, but did not seem to be common about Limestone. 



This bird, though a flycatcher, may be said to have a song. It 

 is a simple one, consisting of the syllables " Phebe — peeree — phebe 

 — peeree " repeated at intervals, the " phebe " with the second note 

 lower in pitch than the first, while the " peeree " has the second note 

 higher and somewhat burred in quality. At times this song is sung 

 in flight, when the bird prefaces it with a loud, rapid " pit pit pit 

 pit pit " as it launches into the air. 



The nest is built on a beam or rafter of a building, or under- 

 neath a bridge, or sometimes on a shelf against the face of a rock. 

 It is made of mud, lined with hair, and covered with moss on the 

 outside. The five or six eggs are pure white. A rock nest of this 

 bird was discovered along the track of the Pennsylvania Railroad 

 below Wolf Run. 



Starling. Sturnus vulgaris Linn. 



This bird is a little smaller than the Robin. Adults are iridescent 

 black in color, the feathers tipped with buff in fresh fall plumage, 



