LAND BIRDS. 705 



probability nests frequently in northern Michigan, the present species 

 usually passes north of our limits and we have little reason to believe that 

 it ever nests in this state. Several observers report it as a summer resident, 

 and Mr. S. E. White states that he found a nest with four newly fledged 

 young on Mackinac Island July 20, 1889; it seems quite probable however, 

 that the nest found was that of the Golden-crown. The nests found in 

 Colorado and Montana are described as very bulky, half pendant, and 

 composed of mosses, bark strips, feathers, fur and similar soft materials, 

 and placed near the ends of pine or spruce branches at some little height 

 from the ground. The eggs are said to be eight or ten in number, of a 

 dirty cream color, more or less spotted, but the spots quite faint, as in the 

 case of the Golden-crowned Kinglet. The eggs average .55 by .43 inches. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male: TT{)per parts grayish olive, with a yellowish tinge on the rump; crown with 

 a small patch of bright red; under parts yellowish or grayish wiiite; two light (yellowish 

 white) wing-bars and wing and tail-feathers usually edged with yellowish. The adult 

 female and the young of the year are similar except that they lack the red patch on the 

 crown. 



Length 3.75 to 4.60 inches: wing 2.20 to 2.30; tail 1.85 to 1.90. 



318. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Polioptila caerulea caerulea {Linn.). (751) 



Synonyms: Gnatcatcher, Common Gnatcatcher, Blue-gray Flycatcher. — Motacilla 

 cierulea, Linn., 1766. — Muscicapa caerulea, Wils., 1810. — Culicivora ca?rulea, Jardine, 

 1832. — Polioptila caerulea of most authors. 



Another tiny species, rivaling the kinglets in daintiness. The upper 

 parts are clear bluish-gray, deepest on the head, lightest on the rump, 

 the under parts almost white, merely tinted with bluish. IMiddle tail- 

 feathers black, outer two pairs mostly white. The male has a narrow 

 black line across the forehead and over each eye, which the female lacks. 



Distribution. — Middle and southern portions of eastern United States, 

 south in winter to Guatemala, Cuba and the Bahamas; rarely north to 

 the Great Lakes, southern New York and southern New England, acci- 

 dentally north to Massachusetts and Maine. Breeds throughout its 

 United States range, and winters from the South Atlantic and Gulf States 

 southward. 



This bird is a summer resident of southern Michigan, and, during some 

 years and in some places, is fairly abundant; during other years hardly 

 seen at all. As a rule it seems to be confined to the three southernmost 

 tiers of countxbs, yet it is not uncommon about Grand Rapids, has been 

 reported from the neighl)orhood of Port Huron, St. Clair county, and there 

 are several records from points still farther north. Wood .& Frothingham 

 record it seen in Crawford county, August 10, 1003, and Mr. S. E. White 

 shot one and saw another on Mackinac Island September 22, 1889. This 

 species appears never to have been killed at any Michigan Lighthouse. 

 In Ontario, according to McTlwraith, the Gnatcatcher is limited to the 

 southwest border, north of which it has never been observed ; and in Wiscon- 

 sin, according to Kumlien k Hollister, it is common only in the southern 

 tier of counties, except "along Lake Michigan, where it is found in few 

 numbers as far north as Mani^towoc county" (about 44°). 



It arrives from the south late in April, the earliest date at Ann Arbor 

 in twenty-five years being given as April 4, 1895, and the average time 

 89 



