192 American Birds 



tered a mud nest, and now it was heaped up full and over- 

 running with a family of five children. Around to the 

 front of the cabin I heard a wren singing, and I rounded 

 the corner just in time to see him pop under the shanty 

 which was built on the side hill; the front part of the 

 foundation was three feet above the ground. Getting 

 down on my hands and knees I crawled under and looked 

 about the beams. On a cross-board in the corner were the 

 nest and five eggs of the wren. With the phoebes in the 

 rear, and the wrens lodged in the front of the cabin, there 

 wasn't the least interference, and the place was much 

 more interesting to me than before the original owners 

 moved out. 



The back of the cabin sloped down to a height of seven 

 feet from the ground, and it was pushed close up against 

 the side hill; we could stand on the slope and look right 

 into the phoebes' nest. The mud nest was plastered on 

 the side of the wall as an eaves swallow builds his nest. 

 With the mud the phoebes had woven In straws, rootlets, 

 and horsehair to keep the structure from crumbling. 

 Then the cup was lined with soft grasses. 



I was amused to see how the phoebes had built. There 

 were five different places where they had started to build 

 and had plastered a few wads of mud on the wall. It 

 seems they had selected one spot when they first started, 

 and as all the boards looked very much alike the birds 

 got mixed In the location when they returned each time; 

 but they had not wasted much material, for after a few 

 trials they had the spot fixed in mind and both deposited 

 the mud on the same board. It looked to me as if they 

 had stood off and thrown little balls of clay against the 



