182 General Notes. 



davs. when the bird wholly disappeared, being caught, it is feared, by a 

 neighbor's cat which had been observed lying in wait for it at the window 

 on various occasions. — J. A. A. 



Tmk Blue-gray Gnatcatciif.r and Sandf.rling in Minne- 

 sota. — May 19, 1877, I phot here a male Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Poli- 

 optila ccerulea). This is, apparently, the most northern point at which 

 it has yet been taken. Also, last fall (September 30), I shot the Sander- 

 ling (Calidris armaria), its second capture in Minnesota. — Robert S. 

 Williams, Minneapolis, Minn. 



Nest and. Eggs of the Gray Titmouse (Lophophane* inorna- 

 tus). — The following notes respecting the nesting habits of the Western 

 Crested Titmouse, furnished by my friend W. E. Bryant, a promising 

 young collector of Oakland, California, together with a description of its 

 eggs, will prove of interest. * As is the case wherever found, the bird is 

 a resident of its locality, and, being already on the ground, housekeeping 

 with it begins early in the season, the first eggs being deposited about 

 the middle of March. Fresh eggs may, however, be found up to the 

 middle of May, from which it would appear that two broods are raised 

 in a season. Their nesting sites are the hollows of limbs, usually in the 

 oaks ; but they appear to be somewhat less particular than others of the 

 family, since my informant speaks of one nest as having been placed in 

 the vtntilator of an out-building. Perhaps in this respect their habits cor- 

 respond more closely with those of the Wrens, and, given a cavity of almost 

 any sort, their wants are supplied. As the only two requisites for the 

 nest proper are an abundance of material to fill up all useless space, and 

 of a sufficiently soft texture, almost any pliable substance becomes avail- 

 able. Hence feathers, fine grasses, cow's hair, rabbit's fur, moss, or even. 

 a~ in one instance, a grain-sack picked into fine pieces, in turn enter into 

 its composition, as they chance to be at hand. As to shape, the nest can 

 scarcely be said to have any, since the character of the cavity wholly 

 determines that. 



The eggs number from five to eight. These, curiously enough, may lie 

 pure white, as is so rarely the case in this family, or spotted. I infer 

 from my correspondent's letter that the sets are either of one or the other 

 style ; that is, that all of a complement are alike. To this, however, there 

 may be exceptions. Nearly all the sets found have been pure white, and 

 the spotted eggs appear to be quite rare; the latter appear also never to 

 be as profusely marked as are those of the Eastern L. bicolor, or, judging 



* The only other notices of the eggs and breeding habits of this Bpecies 

 appear to be the following: 1. Description of a single nesl and set 

 by \V. A. Cooper (this Bulletin, Vol. III. p. 69, April, L878) ; 2. A brief 

 reference to another nesl and set of eggs by L Fielding (Proc, U. S. Nat. Mua . 

 Vol. I, p. too, April, 1879). The eggs of the firsl sel are described as white, 

 thickly marked all over with small irregular spots of red. 



