NEST AND EGGS OF BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER 105 



heigbt, and nearly as ranch in width at the base, with a diaraeter 

 of two incht'S at the brim. The walls are closely and warmly 

 matted or felted with the softest ve^^etable material, the de- 

 composed fibre of various plants, thistle-down, and like sub- 

 stances, in some cases woven with spider's web. The structure 

 is artistically finished with stucco-work of lichens all over the 

 outside, which serves the double purpose of perfecting its 

 beauty and making it resemble a natural excrescence. In such 

 an elegant cradle, eggs are laid, to the number of four, five, or 

 even six, measuring scarcely three-filths of an inch in length 

 and less than half an inch in their greatest diameter — white 

 in color, speckled and dashed, generally over the whole surface, 

 with several shades of reddish or umber brown and lilac. In 

 such a secure home as this, the Blue gray Flycatcher usually 

 rears its brood unmolested ; it has little to fear ex(;ept from the 

 Cowbird and from the ornithologist, against which enemies no 

 art avails. The parasitic bird might have its own excuse to 

 offer, could its motives be called in question ; the other may 

 apologize, after a fashion, by averring that even this slight 

 sketch of the Blue-gray Guatcatcher's life could not be finished 

 had the nest never been ritled. 



r*liiiiabeoii!$ Gnatcatcher 



Polioptila pluiubea 



Polioptila plunibea, Bd. Pr. Phila. Acad. vii. 1858, n%.—Bd. B.^A. 1858, 332; atlas, 1860, pi. 



33, f. I (Xfizoua.). —Heitry, Pr. Piiila. Acad. 185i(, 107. — Bd. Ives's Rep. pt. v. 1861, 6.— 



Bd. Rev. AB. 166}, li.—Coues. Ibis, 1865, 538— Ooftes, Pr. Pbila. Acad. 1866, 66 —Coop. 



Am. Nat. iii. 1869. 474. 479.— Coop. B. Cal i. 1870, 37, fig.— Coucs, Key, 187;2, 79.— B. B. 



cV R. NAB. i. 1874, 80, pi. 6, tG.^Heiish. List. B. Utah, 1875, 155. 

 Lead-colored Flycatcher, Coop. l. c. 

 Lead-colored Onatcatclicr; Arizona Gnatcatcher, B. B. ^ R. l. c. 



Hab. — (Not known to occur beyond tbo) Valley of the Gila and Colorado. 



Cii. SP. — Similis prwcedetiti aed notmo minus ccvrulescenfe, et 

 fronte concolore; strnjd solum superciliari nigra., altera hreviore 

 alba; rectrice externa pogonio exteriore et apice albis. 9 capite 

 innotato. 



<? , adult : U[)per parts like those of P. cwrulea, but duller and more gray- 

 ish ; no black on the forehead ; a short black stripe over each eye, and be- 

 low this another one of white. Outer tail-feather with the whole outer 



