272 LIFE HISTOEIBS OF NORTH AMEEICAlJf BIRDS. 



102. Sayornis phoebe (Latham). 



PHCEBE. 



Muscicapa phcebe LATHAM, Index Ornithological, 11, 1790, 489. 

 Sayornis phoebe Stejnbgee, Auk, II, Jan., 1885, 51. 



(B 135, 252, E 315, 379, U 456.) 



Geographical range : Eastern North America; north to New Brunswick and the 

 Provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and southern Athabasca to Great 

 Slave Lake, Forts Eae, Simpson, and Eesolution, Northwest Territory, Dominion of Canada; 

 west to eastern North and South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, Kansas, the Indian Territory, 

 and western Texas; casual to eastern Colorado and British Columbia; south in winter to 

 eastern Mexico and Cuba. 



The Phoebe, also locally known as the "Phoebe Bird," "Pewee," "Bridge," 

 "Barn," or "House" Pewee, "Pewit Flycatcher," and in the Piedmont region of 

 South Carolina as " Gnatcatcher," is pretty generally distributed as a summer 

 resident, and breeds throughout all the States east of the Mississippi River, except- 

 ing Florida and the southern portions of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 

 and Mississippi, where it is only found in the mountainous parts. It has been 

 recorded as breeding in southern Louisiana and portions of Texas. The most 

 southern breeding records I have been able to find are those given by Dr. Lev- 

 erett M. Loomis, in Pickens and Greenville counties, South Carolina, in "The 

 Auk" (Vol. VII, 1890, p. 39, and Vol. VIII, 1891, p. 328); by Mr. Frank M. 

 Cooms, in St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana, in "The Auk" (Vol. IX, 1892, p. 205); 

 and by Mr. H. P. Attwater, in canyons along the mountain streams in the hilly 

 country west of San Antonio, Texas, in "The Auk" (Vol. IX, 1892, p. 236). 



Longitude 100° (west of Greenwich) marks about the western limits of its 

 breeding range in the United States, but in the Northwest Territory it reaches 

 west to nearly 122° at Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie River, in latitude 62° 12' 

 N., where Mr. B. R. Ross, of the Hudson Bay Company, obtained a female, No. 

 22613, in May, 1861, which is now in the United States National Museum 

 collection. This point, as far as yet known, marks both the western and north- 

 ernmost limits of its range. Its nests and eggs have also been taken on Lesser 

 Slave Lake, in southern Athabasca, by Mr. S. Jones; and near Fort Rae, Great 

 Slave Lake, by Mr. R. MacFarlane; it has also been obtained by Mr. James 

 Lockhart, at Fort Resolution; and Mr. A. McKay found the Phoebe common 

 about Pelican Narrows, Keewatin, in June, 1891, sending several sets of eggs 

 from there to the United States National Museum collection. He says in his 

 notes accompanying them that "here they build in natural cavities in trees and 

 in crevices of rocks. The Indians call them 'Moose-birds,' as they often use 

 moose hair in lining their nests ; they lay in June, and are very bold for their 

 size, often chasing Hawks and Crows." 



Many of these birds remain in Florida and the Southern States bordering 

 the Gulf coast during winter, but the majority pass beyond to Cuba and eastern 

 Mexico. Their flight is swift and strong when in pursuit of an enemy or while 



