236 



THE BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER. 



General Range. Middle and southern portions of the eastern United States, 

 rare north of latitude 42. South in winter to Guatemala, Cuba, and the Bahamas. 

 Breeds throughout United States range, and winters from the South Atlantic and 

 Gulf States southward. 



Range in Ohio. Abundant summer resident ; less common northerly. 



THERE are birds in whose presence you cannot help exclaiming, God 

 bless you ! and this is one of them. Why you should do it you cannot tell 

 any more than you can tell why the same expression rises to your lips at sight 

 of a blue-eyed babe in its mother's arms, kicking and cooing by turns and look- 

 ing out upon the great round world with great round eyes of wonder. The 

 innocence and frailty of the bird, as of the babe, touches some hidden chord of 



sympathy, and we 

 cry out in mingled 

 big-brotherly pity 

 and astonishment. 

 One's first intro- 

 duction to this 

 minikin of the 

 woods must 

 almost of ne- 

 cessity be 



'k^JfiS^^M VI bi'dl 



to the lower 

 bushes, or 

 heaped - up 



oto by the Author. 



A NEST OF THE BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER. 



