PHCEBES AND THEIR COUSINS 
brooded while the father watched and 
sang. 
He took up his position on the end of 
the ridge-pole of the 
roof directly over the 
nest, and while incu- 
bation was going on 
was rarely absent and 
rarely silent. At all 
hours of the day and 
far into the night I 
heard him, and my 
glass seldom failed to 
show him standing 
like a sentinel in 
the same place. He 
seemed never to 
sleep, and I know he 
spent every clear night on the ridge-pole. 
When the little ones were hatched, most 
of the feeding seemed to be done by the 
mother. True, the father would catch his 
meal in a short flight out from his perch and 
back again in true flycatcher fashion, and 
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