The Black Phoebe 
Recognition Marks. —Sparrow size; black-and-white coloration; black of 
breast more extensive than in Junco, and junction of black and white A-shaped, 
instead of square; haunts buildings, bridges, cliffs, etc., and courts prominence; plaintive 
tsip note. 
Nesting. — Nest: A stout cup or bracket of mud, lined with grasses, horsehair, or 
other soft substance; cemented to wall or resting on ledge of other projection of bridge, 
culvert or outbuilding, or else variously disposed at low heights along cliffs and rock- 
walls overlooking streams. Eggs: 4 or 5; white, or occasionally speckled very sparingly 
with reddish brown. Av. size 18.8 x 14.5 (.74 x .57); index 77. Season: March- 
June; two broods. 
General Range. —Resident in Mexico (except the Gulf Coast) and in the South¬ 
western States, from central Texas westward and north on the Pacific slope to south¬ 
western Oregon. 
Distribution in California. —Common resident of Lower and Upper Sonoran 
zones west of the Sierras, and (sparingR) on the Channel Islands; less common north¬ 
erly, especially along the humid coastal strip. Occurs in summer along the eastern 
base of the Sierras, at least as far north as Bishop Creek; and in winter is found sparingly 
on the deserts and in the Colorado River valley. 
Authorities.—Vigors (Muscicapa semiatra), Zool. Voy. “Blossom,” 1839, p. 17; 
Bendire, Life Hist. N. Am. Birds, vol. ii., 1895, p. 280, pi., fig. 30 (egg); Nelson, Auk, 
vol. xvii., 1900, p. 125 (syst.; nomencl.); Beal, U. S. Dept. Agric., Biol. Surv. Bull., 
no. 44, 1912, p. 38, pi. v. (food); Tyler, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 9, 1913, p. 61 (San 
Joaquin Valley); Howell, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 12, 1917, p. 65 (s. Calif, islands). 
THE TRIM APPEARANCE of this little flycatcher no less than its 
modest, friendly mien has endeared the Black Phoebe to the most general 
notice. Black 
and white are 
recognized as 
the colors of 
gentility, and our 
Phoebe is punc¬ 
tilious in the mat¬ 
ter of clothes. 
He always wears 
his dress suit, 
whether his 
task be that of a 
mason building a 
mud house, or of 
a gallant pre¬ 
senting a butter¬ 
fly bouquet to his 
lady love. 
Nature’s gifts are 
Taken near Santa Barbara 
A WINTER PORTRAIT 
Photo by the Author 
