360 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



find food and shelter." Another southern observer, S. A. Grimes, 

 wrote (1928) from Jacksonville, Fla., that it "is easily overlooked in 

 winter, being rather retiring and feeding mostly in the higher foliage." 

 My experience with wintering gnatcatchers in the similar — or even 

 colder — climate of extreme northwestern Florida and southern Ala- 

 bama is widely at variance with these last two observations. Here, 

 although the gnatcatcher is far from common, it is widely distributed, 

 ranging low as well as high in every well-wooded habitat except pure 

 stands of pine. Alone, and usually silent in winter, it could easily be 

 overlooked, but I have found it almost invariably associated with Flor- 

 ida chickadees and tufted titmice — and what could be easier to find 

 than a titmouse! A typical chickadee-titmouse winter group of small 

 birds comprises half a dozen each of titmice, chickadees, ruby-crowned 

 kinglets, and myrtle warblers, a blue-headed vireo, an orange-crowned 

 and a yellow-throated warbler, and a gnatcatcher or two. The scold- 

 ing note of the titmouse is the signal for the observer to look sharp for 

 the rare winter visitors that, when present, attach themselves to these 

 wandering bands of small fry, so in the course of a winter, I see many 

 gnatcatchers. 



The gnatcatcher is not susceptible to freezing temperatures and 

 has been known to withstand successfully such extreme as 16° F., 

 provided these frigid spells last only a day or two; but the severe 

 and protracted freeze of January 1940, when ice formed in northern 

 Florida every night for two weeks and on several days did not thaw 

 all day, caused the complete disappearance of the gnatcatcher from 

 the Pensacola region until the advent of spring migrants. During 

 the following winter of 1940-41, few were seen, although migrants 

 and nesting birds had seemed no less abundant than usual in season. 

 It was not until the second winter after the "big freeze" that the gnat- 

 catcher could again be expected with confidence in every titmouse 

 group. 



Farther south in Florida the gnatcatcher reaches its peak of winter 

 abundance. L. A. Stimson (MS.), describing its occurrence in the 

 extreme southern end of the State, writes: "In the winter the gnat- 

 catcher seems to show no favoritism as to habitat. It may readily 

 be found in the city [of Miami] in fruit, native or exotic trees; in the 

 open country in typical hammock trees; in pine woods; in the cypress; 

 in the mangrove, buttonwood or bay fringes of the coast or swamps; 

 and along the Tamiami Trail it will be found in the low willows 

 where taller trees are absent. During its stay here the gnatcatcher 

 associates freely with other insect eaters, wintering warblers,western 

 palm, myrtle, yellow-throated, prairie, parula, black and white, 

 black- throated green; the vireos, white-eyed and blue-headed; and 

 the ruby-crowned kinglet. Woodpeckers, wrens, yellowthroats, and 



