546 General Notes. [o^ 



author, not a Whip-poor-will but a Catbird! So far as my observation 

 extends he was certainly acting in a new role. Two or three times later 

 in the day 1 heard the same performance repeated, and subsequent 

 visits to the same locahty have, on two occasions, enabled me to sub- 

 stantially confirm my first conclusions as to the accompUshments of this 

 individual. 



It is of further interest to note that in this particular locaUty the Whip- 

 poor-will is seldom heard. One would have to travel several miles to a 

 more ' brushy ' or thickly wooded surrounding to hear them. These 

 observations lead to the query, how then did the Catbird ' learn his lesson ' 

 and how much progress and to what degree do some individuals of the 

 species attain in mimicry ? — • S. Waldo Bailey, Nctvburyport, Mass. 



Another Occurrence of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in Essex 

 County, Massachusetts. — I should like to record a full plumaged Blue- 

 gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila ccerulea coerulea) seen in the pitch pine trees 

 of the Ipswich Dunes on August 24, 1912. 



The bird when first seen was flitting about the trees like a Kinglet utter- 

 ing a curious little call note which at once attracted my attention. I 

 coaxed the bird out on to the lower dead limb of a gray birch by squeaking, 

 60 that we were able to observe it carefully for ten of fifteen minutes 

 although it was quite restless. 



The bird was seen by Miss E. D. Boardman, Edmund Bridge and myself. 

 — LiDiAN E. Bridge, West Medford, Mass. 



A Third Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in Maine. — Late in the afternoon 

 of August 25, 1912, 1 heard several times near my house on Vaughan Street, 

 Portland, what I believed to be the call-note of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 

 {Polioptila coerulea ccerulea). It proceeded from the tops of tall elms, 

 bordering the street, where a number of small birds were flitting about, 

 all too far away, however, to be identified by the eye. About six o'clock, 

 the next morning, I again heard the call-note, now coming from an apple 

 tree on my lawn, and I soon got a fair view of its author at close range. 

 After a moment or two he flew to an almost leafless old apple tree on a 

 near-by vacant lot where, as I stood under the tree, I watched him at my 

 leisure, often within six or seven feet. At last, up to this time quite alone, 

 he flew away southward, a hundred yards or so, to a group of elms, cedars 

 and other trees, and was at once lost in a numerous band of bird migrants. 



If we are to accept the records^ Hterally, only three Gnatcatchers, all 

 told, have made their way to Maine; but to the writer, before whom the 

 three examples have so casually presented themselves, — with a possible 

 fourth not to be overlooked, — it seems hkely enough that more than a few 

 others have come and gone unobserved, even in recent years. — Nathan 

 Clifford Brown, Portland, Maine. 



1 Bull. Nutt. Om. Club, V, pp. 236-237; Auk, XIII, pp. 264-265. 



