336 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
tipped with light rusty. Nest a compact and bulky felted mass, decorated exteri- 
orly with mosses, etc, and lined with soft feathers, attached to rocks, to beams 
of buildings, bridges, etc. Eygs 3-8, pure white, sometimes finely but sparsely 
speckled round larger end with dark brownish. 
a. Belly white or very pale yellowish. 
b. Above olive-grayish, darker on top of head; lower parts entirely whitish, 
more or less strongly tinged posteriorly with pale yellowish, the sides 
of the breast tinged with olive-grayish; length about 6.25-7.00, wing 
3.25-3.55, tail 3.00-3.40. Eggs .75 x .57. Hab. Kastern North America ; 
south, in winter, to eastern Mexico and Cuba. 
456. S. phoebe (Laru.). Phebe. 
b%. Above, together with anterior and lateral lower parts, slate-black ; belly 
and lower tail-coverts white; length about 6.25-7.00, wing 3.55-3.80, 
tail 3.45-3.75. Eggs .74 x 57. Hab. Mexico and northward, along 
Pacific coast to Oregon, eastward to southern Texas. 
458. S. nigricans (Swatns.). Black Phebe. 
a’, Belly light cinnamon, or tawny ochraceous. 
Above light brownish gray, the tail black; anterior lower parts light 
brownish gray, posterior portions light cinnamon or tawny ochraceous ; 
length about 7.50-8.05, wing 3.90-4.25, tail 3.35-3.75. Eggs .77 x .B9, 
always immaculate (?). Hab. Western United States, eastward across 
Great Plains, north to the Saskatchewan, and south into Mexico. 
457. S. saya (Bonap.). Say’s Phoebe. 
Genus CONTOPUS Cazanis. (Page 327, pl. XCIV., figs. 1, 2.) 
Species. 
Common CuHaracters.—Above plain grayish brown or olive-grayish, usually 
darker on top of head, lighter on rump; wings and tail dusky, the wing-coverts 
with more or less distinct paler (usually dull grayish) tips, the secondaries edged 
with the same (these edgings broader and more whitish on tertials); lower parts 
paler than upper, the throat and belly usually whitish or pale yellowish ; upper 
mandible black, lower light-colored, except at tip; feet blackish. Young: Similar 
to adult, but wing-coverts narrowly tipped with buffy, ochraceous, or light rusty. 
Nest on trees (usually on a stout horizontal branch), very compact, saucer-shaped. 
éggs 2-4, pale cream-color, handsomely wreathed round larger end with spots of 
rich brown and lilac-gray or lavender. 
a‘. Tarsus shorter than middle toe, with claw; primaries exceeding secondaries by 
two and a half times the length of the tarsus; wing exceeding tail by about 
half the length of the latter; first quill much longer than fourth, often 
longer than third; a very conspicuous white cottony patch on each side of 
rump; median lower parts white, or very pale yellowish (scarcely inter- 
