Vol. XXVIII ] Geneml Notes _ j j - 



tion, on Center Street. When the young were about to leave the nest, 

 one of my sons heard the man in question say, that he was "coming out 

 early to-morrow morning and take those birds." As the nest was empty 

 on the day designated, it is quite probable he succeeded in doing so. The 

 parent birds were inconsolable for a time. Soon, however, they built 

 again; this time low down in a golden elderberry bush which grew, within 

 twenty feet of the house, on the front lawn of one of my neighbors. Here 

 three young were raised and successfully launched from the nest. I saw 

 two of the young birds killed by neighbor's cats. This same fate overtook 

 the mother. 



One day while sitting on my piazza, I saw in the vacant lot opposite, 

 a cat spring into a hollow apparently in the act of catching a bird. Hearing 

 the great distress of the male mockingbird directly over the hole, I ran 

 to the place, but alas! too late. The cat bounded away but in her fright 

 dropped the bird. Immediately picking it up, I recognized the still 

 beautiful though lifeless mate of the distracted father who was hovering 

 over me. 



The father mockingbird and one of the young were constantly seen about 

 the neighborhood until autumn, when they probably went South. In 

 passing, I may say that it was this particular pair of mockingbirds which 

 first incited me to the study of bird life. Whether the pair of mocking- 

 birds described above are the pair referred to by Mrs. Seriah Stevens or 

 not I do not know, but I have never heard of other than this pair nest- 

 ing in Roslindale in 1902. — Julia Wingate Sherman, Roslindale, Mass. 



A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in Brookline and Boston, Mass. — On 



December 3, 1910, when passing through Olmsted Park, lying partly in 

 Boston and partly in Brookline, I came upon an Orange-crowned Warbler 

 (Vermivora celata cclala) in a planting of shrubbery. It was an unusually 

 brightly plumaged bird, others which I had seen in former seasons having 

 been much more dusky and dull-plumaged. This warbler had just gone 

 from view by taking a short flight out of my range of vision, when another 

 very small bird was seen directly before me, which by coloration, form, and 

 movement I perceived at once to be a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila 

 ccerulea) . The tone of color of the upper parts was a very clear blue-gray, 

 and the nervous switching and erecting of the tail were characteristic 

 movements. I had several good views of the bird both in trees, on shrubs, 

 and on the ground before it passed from sight, when automobile travel 

 intervened. It appeared to be gleaning food of larva? or insect's eggs 

 from the twigs and remaining leaves. The following day five other ob- 

 servers, associate members of the A. O. U., to whom the knowledge had been 

 given, also saw this bird in the same park a little farther southward. The 

 earliest observer found it still in the company of the Orange-crowned 

 Warbler, but the later group, while seeing the Gnatcatcher, was unable to 

 find the warbler. On December 4 the bird was on the Boston side of the 

 park, having been on the Brookline side when seen by me. In 'The Auk' 



