356 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



coloring is noted in conjunction with the slender build, long tail and 

 white outer tail feathers. The bird is longer, and therefore apparently- 

 larger, that the kinglets because of the length of its tail. The brown 

 creeper, another tiny bird with a long tail, differs notably in color, 

 shape, and habit. The parula warbler, another bluish-gray bird, lacks 

 the long tail and always shows white wing patches and some yellowish 

 in the plumage. 



No less a writer than John Burroughs (1880), when describing the 

 gnatcatcher, made an unfortunately inept comparison that has been 

 copied down the years in the writings of many of his followers. He 

 wrote : " In form and manner it seems almost a duplicate of the catbird, 

 on a small scale. It mews like a young kitten, erects its tail, flirts, 

 droops its wings, goes through a variety of motions when disturbed 

 by your presence, and in many ways recalls its dusky prototype." 

 Such a comparison would never have occurred to an observer who 

 knew the mockingbird, for the points of similarity (except for size) 

 between the gnatcatcher and the mockingbird are truly striking — 

 form, proportions (even to the long, expressive, white-edged tail), 

 color value though not color tone, many characteristic movements 

 and attitudes, in fact in almost every feature except the lack of white 

 in the wings of the gnatcatcher. I once knew a tyro bird-watcher 

 who, not aware that altricial species attain full body size before leaving 

 the nest, spoke seriously of the gnatcatcher as a tiny mockingbird. 



The distinguishing mark of the male gnatcatcher in breeding plum- 

 age' — the black forehead and line over the eye— is useful as a field 

 mark only at very short distances. Many times I have tried to see 

 it, even with binoculars and in good light, but the activity of the 

 little birds usually defeated my efforts. Only at the nest, when an 

 approach to within a few feet is possible, have I been able to detect 

 it with ease and certainty. It seems to be not generally known that 

 this distinguishing mark is not present in winter specimens. 



Voice. — Unlike the winter wren and the ruby-crowned kinglet, whose 

 bid for fame rests as much upon the surprising volume of sound as upon 

 the beauty of their songs, the gnatcatcher does not take high rank as a 

 singer. To an observer like myself, whose auditory nerves (with 

 advancing years) no longer react to high-pitched sounds of small 

 volume, the gnatcatcher must actually be seen in the act of singing 

 before the attention can be focused sufficiently to catch the sound. 

 Once heard, the song is appreciated as a finished performance. 

 C. J. Maynard (1896) immortalized it in this beautiful passage: 



I heard a low warbling which sounded like the distant song of some bird I had 

 never heard before * * * And nothing could be more appropriate to the 

 delicate marking and size of the tiny fairy-like bird than this silvery warble which 

 filled the air with sweet, continuous melody. I was completely surprised, for I 



