The Black Phoebe 
least overhead shelter, the birds cement a bracket of mud against the 
perpendicular wall. They are very clever little masons, and the per¬ 
centage of failure in adhesion in the use of the Phoebe recipe is decidedly 
less, I should say, than in the case of the Barn Swallow, whose handiwork 
Phoebe’s so closely resembles. Contrary to the statement of some 
authors noted for their imaginative powers, the Black Phoebe does 
not, in my experience at least, use elaborate upholsteries. The nest 
is somewhat austerely 
lined with twisted 
grasses and a few in¬ 
cluded horse hairs. 
Eggs to the number of 
four or five are deposit¬ 
ed, pure white in color, 
save that one or more 
are likely to be lightly 
sprinkled or sharply 
spotted with chestnut. 
Tyler thinks it is invari¬ 
ably the last egg or eggs 
laid which are so 
marked, and wishes that 
we might find larger sets 
so as to test the birds’ 
latent powers . 1 
Bridges and cul¬ 
verts meet the exact 
conditions of the Black 
Phoebe’s requirements 
even more accurately 
than stream banks. 
Nigricans, therefore, has 
well merited the name 
“ bridge pewee ” which 
has so long been applied 
to its cousin Sayornis 
phoebe. Given running 
water and freedom from 
molestation, there is no 
bridge too humble to 
boast its attendant pair 
77“ Z7 , . , _ Taken in the Ojai Photo by D. R. Dickey 
1 Some Birds of the Fresno District, a FAMILY GROUP: BLACK PHOEBES 
Pac. Coast Avifauna No. 9, P- 6i, 1913 - 
871 
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