80 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



not less than five in a single day, and very rarely were any of them less 

 than sixty feet from the ground. Dr. Gerhardt, who was an accurate and 

 careful observer, speaks of these as the best built nests he had met with in 

 this country, both in regard to strength and its ingeniously contrived aper- 

 ture, so narrowed at the top that it is impossible for the eggs to roll out even 

 in the severest wind. They have two broods in the season in the Southern 

 States, one in April and again in July. 



This Flycatcher lays usually five eggs. These are of a short oval form, 

 somewhat pointed at one end and rounded at the other, and measure .56 

 of an inch in length by .44 in breadth. Their ground-color is a greonish- 

 white, marked and dotted with small blotches and spots of varying and 

 blending shades of reddish-brown, lilac, and slate-. 



Polioptila plumbea, Baird. 



LEAD-COLORED GNATCATCHER; ARIZONA GNATCATCHER. 



Polioptila 2}lumbca, Baird, Pr. A. N. Sc. VII, June, 1854, 118. — Ib. Birds N. Am. 1858, 

 382, pi. xxxiii, fig. 1 ; Review, 74. — Cooper, Birds Cal. I, 37. 



Sp. Char. Above bluish-gray ; the forehead uniform with the croM^n. Eyelids white. 

 A pale grayish-white line over the eye, above which is another of black, much concealed 

 by the feathers, and which does not reach to the bill. Lower parts dull white, tinged with 

 bluish on the sides and with brownish behind. Tail-feathers black ; the first and second 

 edged and tipped with white, involving the entire outer web of the first, and most of 

 that of the second ; the third with only a very faint edging of the same. Female duller, 

 without the black superciliary line. Length, 4.40; wing, 1.80; tail, 2.30 (7,189). 



Hab. Arizona. 



This species differs from F. carrulca, in having the ash above less bluish, 

 especially on the forehead ; the black superciliary streak is only a horizontal 

 bar, not reaching the bill, whereas in cccridea it not only reaches the bill, 

 but also extends across the forehead ; the light superciliary stripe is more 

 distinct. The tail is entirely different, the lateral feathers being almost 

 entirely black, instead of the reverse. 



From immature specimens of P. melanura it may be distinguished by 

 larger size and purer white lower parts, and greater amount of white on 

 outer webs of lateral tail-feathers. 



Habits. But little is known in regard to the distribution or history of 

 this species. It appears to be pectdiar to Arizona and Mexico. There is no 

 good reason to suppose that it differs materially in any of its habits from 

 the other species of this genus. Dr. Cooper, who observed this species at 

 Fort Mojave, states that it is a winter resident of that region in small 

 numbers ; and, so far as he observed, is undistinguishable either in habit or 

 general appearance from either of the otlier species which at that season 

 are also found there. Its cry of alarm resembles that of the common wren. 



