BIEDS or INDIANA. 1143 



The orchards, shade trees, small fruit farms and woods are visited 

 by these Kinglets, too, and they do much to decrease the number of 

 the insect population there. "Of 7 specimens examined, 2 had eaten 

 4 small caterpillars; 3, 5 beetles; 1, an ant; 1, a chalcis fly; and 2 bits 

 of insects not identified (King, Geol. of Wis., I., p. 482). It has been 

 said they ate the blossoms of maple, pear, apple and other fruit trees. 

 Becent investigations have shown no evidence of this. It is probable 

 they were observed when they were engaged, as they often are, catch- 

 ing insects about the blossoms, and were wrongly judged and then 

 misrepresented. Mr. E. R. Quick has published the following interest- 

 ing note concerning it: 



"On October 16, 1879, a Euby-crowned Wren took up its abode 

 in a barroom, in Brookville, where it remained until the 25th, flying 

 about amongst the often noisy patrons of the establishment; and, 

 though it was caught and handled, to thoroughly identify it, this sum- 

 mary proceeding did not cause it to leave, although the door stood 

 open during the entire day. During its stay it subsisted on flies, which 

 it very expertly captured, returning to its perch to eat them in the 

 manner of the flycatchers. Toward the latter part of its sojourn it 

 became so much accustomed to its strange quarters as to sally out 

 from its perch by lamplight after insects attracted by the light. It 

 finally took its departure without apparent cause, probably to resume 

 its southward migration" (Jonrn. Cin. Soc. N. H., July, 1880, pp. 121, 

 122). 



SUBFAMILY POLIOPTIUN^E. GNATCATCHERS. 

 175. GENUS POLIOPTILA SCLATER. 



'313. (751). Polioptila caerulea (LINN.). 



Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 



Adult Male. Above, blue-gray, bluer on the head, lighter on the 

 rump; forehead and line over the eye, black; ring around the eye, 

 whitish; below, whitish; tail, black, three outer feathers with white. 

 Adult Female. Similar, but lacking black streak across forehead and 

 over the eye. 



Length, 4.05-5.50; wing, 2.00-2.20; tail, 2.05-2.20. 



EANGE. Eastern North America, from Guatemala and West Indies 

 to New York, Ontario, southern Michigan, northern Illinois. Acci- 

 dental to Maine and Minnesota, west to Nebraska and western Texas. 

 Breeds from Gulf coast, north. Winters from Florida, south. 



Nest, in woods, 10 to 50 feet up, in fork or saddled on horizontal 

 limb of tree; of moss, fibre or spiders' webs, covered with lichens; 



