434 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
bees and wasps. 30.82 per cent for the year, 58.75 per cent for August; flies, 28.26 
per cent, proved the most regular article of diet, with 64.36 per cent in April, proving 
its right to the name of flycatcher; ants made a notable part of the food in mid¬ 
summer. Bugs constituted 10.56 per cent. Moths and caterpillars amounted to 8.22 
per cent. It should be rigidly protected and in every way encouraged (Beal, 1912). 
General Habits. —The handsome black and white Phoebe is one of 
the few strikingly marked flycatchers, and its gentle voice adds to its 
attractiveness. As it sits—perhaps on a fence wire—its tail jetting and 
its wings quivering ready for instant action, at sight of a passing insect 
it darts out with a liquid hip', a rising kee-ree ' and falling kee-wray'j 
snaps up its prey, and circles back to its perch. 
Like the other phoebes, it often nests about houses, where, with 
mutual benefit, it can indulge its fondness for house flies. In Lower 
California, Mr. Anthony found it from latitude 28° northward, wherever 
water was found, “ building under the eaves of adobe houses when near 
human habitations, and on the sides of ledges along streams in the un¬ 
settled parts” (in Bendire, 1895, p. 280). In the desert, it has been 
found at a water hole, perhaps discovered in passing. In the mountains, 
Mr. Ligon has found it nesting mostly in deep narrow canyons near 
running water. 
In southern Arizona, although the Black Phoebe was considered a 
permanent resident, Mr. Swarth found it locally migratory, “ moving up 
into the hills in summer (to about 6,000 feet), and down to the lower 
valleys during the winter months” (1914, p. 41). 
Along the Mimbres, where Mr. Bailey found the Black Phoebe up 
to his camp at 6,500 feet, he wrote: “One pair have a nest under our 
shed roof, another pair on a rock over the water just below our camp. 
The nest under our roof is made largely of mud lined with feathers and 
grass, the one on the rocks below is mainly of grass and fibers with less 
mud in its walls. There are young in both nests and the old birds bring 
great numbers of caddice flies to them. After dark when the old bird is 
on the nest and any noise disturbs her she snaps her bill in a vicious way 
well calculated to frighten away an enemy. The call note, evening and 
morning, is very plaintive and beautiful, almost a song” (MS). 
Additional Literature—Jewett, F. B., Bull. Cooper Orn. Club, 13, 1899 
(nesting).— Scott, C. de W., Educational Leaflet 114, Nat. Assoc. Audubon Soc. 
WESTERN FLYCATCHER: Empidonax difficilis difffcilis Baird 
Description. — Male: Wing 2.5-2.9, tail 2.3-2.G, bill .6, width at base .2-.3, tarsus 
.6-. 7; outside primary shorter than fifth. Adults: Upperparts brownish or grayish olive , 
tail grayish brown with lighter edgings; wings dusky , with two olive or huffy bars ; 
axillars and under wing coverts pale yellow; broad orbital ring and lores yellowish or 
whitish, chest and sides pale buffy olive, rest of underparts pale yellow; bill with under 
mandible yellowish. Young: Similar to adults but upperparts browner, wing bars 
buffy or ochraceous, underparts paler. 
