PHOEBE 



Upper parts grayish-brown with a grfeen cast ; darker on 

 head; wings and tail dusky; outer tail-feathers and wingbars 

 whitish; under parts white washed with yellow on belly and 

 brownish on sides and breast; bill and feet black; head with 

 slight crest. Length, seven inches. 



Nest, twigs, roots and moss cemented together with mud 

 and lined with grass and hair. It is located on a beam or 

 rafter in some outbuilding, or under a bridge or an overhang- 

 ing bank. Eggs, four to six, white, .75 x .60 inches. 



The Phoebe is a bird with nothing .about her to please 

 the eye or charm the ear. She is not graceful in form nor 

 attractive in flight ; her plumage is not brilliant nor her song a 

 sweet melody. In fact she is a homely bird, while her only 

 note is a monotonous cry of pewit phoebe all day long. Yet 

 strange to say, she is one of the best beloved birds of all that 

 come to us from the sunny South. 



Why is this so? For the saine reason that some plain, 

 unpretending people who have great, loving, generous hearts 

 command our admiration and respect more than many others 

 who have mere external beauty of face or form. The Phoebe 

 is like the former. She is kind, gentle and helpful to all. 

 "Handsome is that handsome does" applies to birds as well as 

 to men, hence everybody likes this little bird. 



Here are some of her virtues: she never quarrels, she 

 never steals, she is never cruel to other birds. Early in March 

 she comes to the farmer's door as a forerunner of balmy 

 spring. She knows that she is just ahead of the soft, warm 

 winds and she wants to tell everyone of it. Hopping about 



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