BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 433 



the Colorado Valley," that it does not visit this State, in which 

 at this date, he is almost but not qnite right. My collections 

 embrace the months of May, June and July. 



At what precise time it has been observed to arrive in Min- 

 nesota I cannot state except that two have been obtained be- 

 fore the 20th of May. If any nests have been collected, the 

 fact has not been communicated to me up to this time. It is 

 a species with which I became quite familiar in California 

 when collecting in the southern portion of that state. The P. 

 melaniira or Black-tail was a more common species, resembling 

 it so much in appearance and manners that with difficulty I 

 learned to separate them without shooting them first, unless 

 near enough to distinguish the dark tail and black crown of the 

 latter. 



Mr. R. S. Williams of this city obtained the first specimen 

 of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher on the 19th of May, 1877. It was 

 a male. Quite remarkably this bird was also first observed in 

 in Massachusetts, November, 1876. (Bulletin Nuttall Club, 

 Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 46). 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Above grayish-blue, gradually becoming bright blue on the 

 crown; a narrow frontal band of black extending backward over 

 the eye; under parts and lores bluish- white, tinged with lead 

 color on the sides; first and second tail feathers white except 

 at the extreme base which is black, the color extending ob- 

 liquely forward on the inner web; third and fourth black with 

 white tips, very slight on the latter; fifth and sixth entirely 

 black; upper tail coverts blackish plumbeous; quills edged ex- 

 ternally with pale bluish-gray, which is much broader, and 

 nearly white on the tertials. 



Length, 4.30; wing, 2.15; tail, 2.25. 



Habitat, middle and southern portions of the United States. 



Family TUBDTD^. 



TURDUS MUSTELINUS Gmelin. (755.) 

 WOOD THRUSH. 



This peerless songster arrives about the 5th to the 10th of 

 May, the latest record I have of my own, or any of my corres- 

 pondents for many years being May 12th. The males arrive a 

 little in advance of the females, but only a little, for they are 

 silent until the arrival of the others, and not more than three 

 or four days after the earliest are known to have come, their 

 songs begin to be heard. 



