A little-known bird makes an interesting addition to your wild garden. You can attract it with some minor adjustments to your garden plan.

This bird isn't a gaudy dresser like the bluebird. He's plain, subtle, dark grey above, light below.

He doesn't have the wood thrush's lovely call or the mockingbird's broad repertoire. His call is just two simple, unmelodious, unvarying syllables.

In fact, he tends to be rather silent except in spring, when he repeats his name, "Feee-bee, Feee-bee, Feee-bee," in a nasal buzzing.

The phoebe is plain, but he isn't boring.

The eastern phoebe is a flycatcher. He sits in the open on bare twigs for long times, just watching, occasionally wagging his tail.

Then he will sally forth on fluttering wings. If you listen, you can hear the snap of his beak as he takes an insect out of the air.

He seems a trusting bird. Maybe that's because he has adapted to using large animals, including people, to flush insects into the air, where they're vulnerable to his hunting.

If you're in the woods gathering firewood, a phoebe may alight on a tree nearby. Watch a deer as it searches for browse. You may see a phoebe fly alongside and perch on branches to watch for insects associated with the deer.

Phoebes are amazing in their ability to find flying insects on even the coldest winter days. Then they seek sunny places and perch low to the ground to watch the forest floor.

Phoebes leave the north to winter throughout the snowless South. In the deep South they're strictly winter birds, arriving at the Georgia-Florida line about Oct. 1.

The last ones depart their southernmost wintering grounds at the end of March for nesting grounds to the north.

The earliest northbound phoebes follow the spring thaw. Edwin Way Teale, in his memorable Walk Through the Year, said the first Phoebe inevitably arrived in late March on the day the ice went out on his New England pond.

Phoebes nest from middle Georgia, where they live year-round, northward to Canada. In wild places, they make their beautiful creation of moss and lichens in a niche on a cliff face or river bluff.

They nest on manmade cliffs, too. A beam under a bridge or porch will do. These structures have helped phoebes expand their breeding range. Once such birds were mistakenly called "bridge phoebes."

I nailed a little wood platform under the eaves of my house. A phoebe nests there every year. If you want plans, write me at Extension Wildlife Specialist, School of Forest Resources, Building 4, The University of Georgia, Athens GA 30602.

Our phoebe sometimes roosts in the garage. If you have an old outbuilding, leave the door open, and a phoebe will often roost inside on cold winter nights.

Hammer a few large nails into the rafters to serve as perches. Sneak in quietly after dark and shine a flashlight about to see if your outbuilding is a phoebe hotel.

Look for bird droppings on the floor. You don't like bird droppings? Put newspaper on the floor underneath the perch.

Phoebes are partial to wild gardens. Don't prune off those picturesque dead twigs. Phoebes like to perch on them to watch for prey. Dense, leafy branches aren't nearly as good for this.

Can you feed a phoebe? Not likely.

Phoebes take about 10 percent seeds and fruit, but I've never seen one at a feeder. You can help provide food by planting insect-attracting plants. And go easy on the insecticides.

A garden full of butterflies, moths, bees and wasps is a good sign that other, less noticed, phoebe food is abundant, too.