i68 Birds Every Child Should Know 
one of the best pieces of bird architecture you 
are likely to find. 
Some over-thrifty housekeepers, neverthe- 
less, tear down nests from their piazzas, because 
the poor little phoebes are so afflicted with lice 
that they are considered objectionable neigh- 
bours. Many wild birds, like chickens, have 
their life-blood drawn by these minute pests. 
But a thorough dusting of the phoebe’s nest 
with Persian powder would bring relief to the 
tormented birds, save their babies, perhaps, 
from death and keep the piazza free from 
vermin. No birds enjoy a bath in your fotm- 
tain or water pan more than these tormented 
ones. 
From purely selfish motives it pays to cul- 
tivate neighbours ever on the lookout for 
flies, wasps. May beetles, click beetles, elm 
destroyers and the moth of the cutworm. The 
first nest is usually so infested that the phoebes 
either tear it down in July, and build a new one 
on its site, or else make the second nest at a 
little distance from the first. The parents of 
two broods of from four to six ravenously 
hungry, insectivorous young, with an instinc- 
tive desire to return to their old home year 
after year, should surely meet no discourage- 
ment from thinking farmers’ wives. 
Shouldn’t you think that baby phoebes, 
reared in nests under railroad bridges, would 
