394 THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 



hear it now without feeling an impulse to ap[>laud. The bird is so 

 small, the song so rich and full, that one is reminded of a chorister 

 with the voice of an adult soprano. To extend the comparison, one 

 watches this gifted but unconscious musician flitting about the trees 

 with somewhat the feeling that one observes the choir-boy doffing his 

 surplice and joining his comrades for a game of tag. 



751. PolioptilacaBrulea(Zi/m.). Blue-gray Gnatcatchek. (See 

 Fig. 58, b.) Ad. $ . — Upper parts bluish gray ; forehead and front of the head 

 narrowly bordered by black ; wings edged with grayish, the secondaries bor- 

 dered with whitisli ; outer tail-feathers wliite, clianging gradually until the 

 middle ones are black ; under parts dull grayish white. Ad. 9 . — Similar, 

 but without the black on the head. L., 4-50 ; W., 2-05 ; T., 2-00 ; B., -40. 



Range. — Eastern United States; breeds from the Gulf States to northern 

 Illinois, southern Ontario, and New Jersey, and wanders rarely to Minnesota 

 and Maine ; winters from Florida southward. 



Washington, rather common S. E., Apl. 5 to Sept. 



Nest., of tendrils, fine strips of bark, and fine grasses firmly interwoven 

 and covered externally with lichens, on a horizontal branch or in a crotch, 

 ten to sixty, usually thirty feet up. -Eggs., four to five, bluish white, thickly 

 spotted and speckled with cinnamon-, rufous-brown, or umber, -56 x -46. 



The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher frequents rather densely foliaged trees, 

 generally in the woods, showing a preference for the upper branches. 

 He is a bird of strong character, and always seems to me like a minia- 

 ture Mockingbird with some of the habits of Kinglets. 



His exquisitely finished song is quite as remarkable as the ordinary 

 performance of his large prototype, but is possessed of so little volume 

 as to be inaudible unless one is quite near the singer. His character- 

 istic call-note — a rather sudden ti7ig, like the twang of a banjo string 

 — can be heard at a greater distance. 



Family. TuRDiD^. Thrushes, Bluebirds, etc. 



The three hundred species included in this large family are placed 

 by systematists in several subfamilies. About one hundred and fifty 

 are true Thrushes belonging in the subfamily TurdincB. These are 

 distributed throughout the world, some twelve species inhabiting the 

 United States. As a rule, they inhabit wooded regions, are migratory, 

 and gregarious or sociable to a greater or less extent during their mi- 

 grations and in winter. 



As songsters they are inferior to some of our birds in power of 

 execution, but their voices are possessed of greater sweetness and 

 expression, and they are conceded first rank among song-birds by all 

 true lovers of bird music. 



