32 THe Birps Asout Us. 
well, and it soon returned. Not once did it fly 
downward to catch an insect. Is it because it can 
only see a fly when the sky is beyond, and insects 
are not discernible against the dull background 
of dead grass? This bluebird, while I watched it, 
seemed generally to have its attention drawn upward, 
and only flew out in that direction. 
It would seem to be a law of bird-life that the 
smaller the body the greater the activity. Of course 
our very largest birds are active enough in one sense, 
but it is deliberate action. I have watched vultures 
soar by the hour in the sky, so high above the 
earth that they seemed no larger than swallows, and 
the same is true of eagles. But this soaring proba- 
bly calls for little exertion. On the other hand, 
there comes from the south to the Middle States, 
and sparingly to the north, a little blue-gray gnat- 
catcher that is just as active, erratic, and impetu- 
ous as any humming-bird, and is something smaller, 
too, than the largest of the hummers. This little 
bird is not generally known. It does not come to 
town, or, if it does, pays only a flying visit to the 
tallest tree-tops. It stays all summer, and builds a 
dainty nest of unsubstantial bits, always in a tree, 
and sometimes very near the top of it, and lays a 
few beautiful yellow-brown and white eggs. 
Anent the matter of classification, this little bird 
used to be looked upon as a “flycatcher.” It is 
still a catcher of flies, but, because of its bones and 
feathers having certain twists, “is now ranked as one 
of the highest types of the Oscines, or Singing-birds,” 
and the song is usually likened to the squeak of a 
