Western Bird Guide: Birds of the Rockies and West to the Pacific

by Charles K. Reed

SAY PHŒBE.

457. Sayornis sayus. 8 inches.

The Phoebe is a bird that will select for its nesting place the heavy beam of some old bridge, or in some old mill where the timbers are falling down, and place its nest in some dark corner, building it of mud, moss and grasses lined with feathers, or in some localities the nests may be placed in the crevice of some cliff or ledge where they lay four or five white eggs, rarely dotted with brown.

It is slightly larger than the eastern variety, with the under parts showing more of a brownish color, and is found breeding from the Arctic to Lower California.