ANDERSON — THE BIRDS OF IOWA. 377 



in Pottawattamie and Mills counties. Chas. R. Keyes writes 

 that "in 1903 they were plentiful from October i to October 15, 

 and a single bird remained about the hou.se until November 26 at 

 least. A number of times I noticed the species singing the first 

 half of its song" (Mt. Vernon, Limi county). Like the Golden- 

 crowned Kinglet, this species gathers most of its food from leaf 

 and twig, but also catches insects on the wing. 



Subfamily POLIOPTILIN^. Gnatcatchers. 



Genus Poijoptila Sclater. 



345- (751)- Polioptila arru/ea (Linn.). Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 



The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is a common summer resident in 

 the southern part of Iowa from the latter part of April until the 

 latter part of September. While the species occurs quite regu- 

 larly in summer as far north as the central part of the state, it 

 very seldom reaches northern Iowa. The bird frequents wood- 

 land, keeping in the tops of the higher trees, where the nest is 

 placed on a horizontal limb — a beautiful, deeply-cupped, lichen- 

 covered structure, like the nest of a hummingbird, but larger. 

 David L. Savage describes the nesting habits of the Blue-gray 

 Gnatcatcher in Henry county (Nidologist, i, 9, pp. 137-38), where 

 he has found many nests; sometimes placed in the very top of the 

 tallest trees, fifty feet from the ground, and at other times no 

 more than ten feet, but more often fifteen or twenty feet from the 

 ground. The nest nearly always contains one or more eggs of 

 the Cowbird. 



County records: Blackhawk — "frequent breeder in Blackhawk 

 county, which .seems to be near their northern limit" (Peck). De- 

 catur-Mahaska (Trippe). Henry (Savage). Johnson (Akers and 

 others). Delaware (Rann). Lee (Currier, Praeger). Linn (Keyes, 

 Bailey, Berry). Mu.scatine (Wilson). Poweshiek (Kelsey, Jones). 

 Pottawattamie (Trostler). Polk (Cooke). Scott (Wilson). Van 

 Buren (W. G. Savage). Warren (Jeffrey). 



Family TURDID.F:. Thrushes, Bluebirds, etc. 



The Thrushes form a rather large and not very distinctly de- 

 fined family, including about twelve species, with many varieties, 

 inhabiting the United States. About eight varieties are known 

 to occur in Iowa. Thev are birds with rather long, not conical, 



