FLYCATCHERS ^7 



flycatcher, are handsome and peculiar in markings. Four to 

 five creamy eggs, marked with purple streaks, are laid, 

 usually in June. 



PHOEBE 



The Phoebe, often called Pewee and Bridge Bird, was 

 formerly the most familiar of our flycatchers. It arrives in 

 the Central States and Great Lakes region in advance of 

 most other insectivorous birds. Frequently the appearance 

 is a httle premature, as our climate is subject to severe 

 changes, and it may find few insects. The breeding range 

 extends as far north as the Hudson Bay region and west to 

 Kansas and Nebraska. In winter it is found from North 

 Carolina to Cuba and Mexico. 



The note is a plaintive "phce-bee" accompanied by a 

 jerking of the tail. Sociable birds, they take readily to the 

 habitations of man, nesting about the porches in corrals 

 and under bridges. They do not possess the aggressiveness 

 typical of the kingbird and crested flycatcher, but remain 

 patiently on some twig or fence post, darting out at the 

 insects which come within range of their sharp eyes. These 

 highly beneficial birds are far less common than formerly, 

 due largely to parasitic insects which often cause the death 

 of the offspring; often when rearing the second family the 

 quarters are for this reason changed. The English sparrow 

 is another cause of the lessened numbers of these birds, 

 which now seldom build about outbuildings, as formerly, but 

 select bridges, where sparrows are less in evidence. 



Fifty years ago ornithologists described the eggs as pure 

 white, but they are evidently undergoing a change, as few 



