180 THE BIRDS 
vellow underparts, as well as their shrill whistle, makes 
them readily distinguishable from any of our other breed- 
ing flycatchers. The local name of ‘Snake Bird” was 
probably given them on account of seeing birds, when 
building their nests, carrying snake skins in their beaks. 
While rather a pugnacious bird, sometimes driving off 
other species, they must be considered of great benefit 
from an agricultural standpoint. They destrov many 
harmful insects, flies, beetles, wasps, grasshoppers and 
crickets, which form the greater part of their food. 
GENUS SAYORNIS. 
[456]. Sayornis phebe (Latham). Phebe. 
Rayce.—Eastern North America. Breeds from south- 
western Mackenzie, Alberta, southern Keewatin, Ontario, 
Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince 
Edward Island south to northeastern New Mexico, central 
Texas, northern Mississippi, and highlands of Georgia; 
winters in United States south of latitude 37° south to 
Vera Cruz and Oaxaca; in migration casual west to Colo- 
rado and Wyoming; accidental in Cailfornia and Cuba. 
Throughout Tidewater this bird is a rare breeding 
species. South of the James River I know of but one 
record of a pair of breeding birds, Suffolk, Nansemond 
County, 1893. This pair bred under an arch of a railroad 
bridge over an arm of Lake Kilby. On the James River 
Peninsula I have never found it breeding close to water, 
although it does breed further westward in the vicinity 
of Richmond. It breeds sparingly on the Cape Charles 
Peninsula (Northampton County, 1909), increasing in 
