LXXXIX 



Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher 

 751. Polioptilla caerulea coerulea 



Next to the Hummingbird, the Blue-Gray Gnat- 

 catcher, four and one-half inches long, is the smallest of 

 our feathered friends. It is marked by a general pale 

 blue body, with crown and forehead black and edges of 

 eyelids white, and is whitish on belly and breast; the 

 wings are dark brown, the tail black bordered with white, 

 the bill is long and the body slender. 



About the middle to the last of May, should you be 

 bird-hunting in the dry uplands covered with evergreen, 

 red-haw and other small trees, if you keep a close watch 

 you are likely to see this mite of a bird, with its quiet de- 

 meanor and modest garb. This Gnatcatcher is a pygmy 

 among birds and looks the part of a little all-dressed-up 

 personage. Having once recognized the bird there is never 

 again any doubt in your mind as to its identity. Its faint, 

 lisping, ' ' tsee, tsee, tsee ! ' ' will assist you in recognizing 

 it even before you see it. It is an expert insect catcher 

 and is ever on the alert for a passing moth or other fly- 

 ing insect. 



It would seem that what this bird lacks in physical 

 size it makes up in enthusiasm and bursting energy. 

 Retiring in disposition and sombre in color, the Gnat- 

 catcher is not easily seen unless in action, and its delicate 

 subdued song is not audible very far. One can hardly 

 believe that this little bunch of feathers makes a safe 

 journey across the water to Cuba and the Bahamas, in 

 its migration to the South. (Fig. 137.) 



The nest is a masterpiece of bird architecture. For 

 delicacy of lichens and downy lining it is excelled only 

 by that of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. 



When I first heard the call of the Gnatcatcher I mis- 

 took it for that of the Chickadee. But on listening closely, 

 I detected a delicacy and a faint character of tone that 

 were very different from ' ' Dee, dee. ' ' 



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