336 NORTE 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. Eggs 3-6, pure white, sometimes finely but sparsely 

 speckled round larger end with dark brownish. 



a 1 . Belly white or very pale yellowish. 



b 1 . Above olive-grayish, darker on top of head ; lower parts entirely whitish, 

 moro 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 .84 X -55. Sab. Eastern North America ; 

 south, in winter, to eastern Mexico and Cuba. 



456. S. phcebe (Lath.). Phoebe. 



V. 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 -55. Hab. Mexico and northward, along 



Pacific coast to Oregon, eastward to southern Texas. 



458. S. nigricans (Swains.). Black Phoebe. 

 a 3 . 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 .76 X -59, 

 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 Cabanis. (Page 327, pi. XOIV., figs. 1, 2.) 



Species. 



Common Characters. — 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. 

 Eggs 2-4, pale cream-color, handsomely wreathed round larger end with spots of 

 rich brown and lilac-gray or lavender. 



a 1 . 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- 



