The Birds’ Calendar 
year as the ruby-crowned, or else it is far less 
gifted. 
Related to the kinglets, but a much rarer 
species, is the beautiful and irrepressible little 
blue-gray gnat-catcher (found on one occasion 
in the Ramble), only four and a half inches 
long, in quiet tones of grayish-blue above, and 
white beneath, of delicate mould, and in many 
ways suggestive of a tiny mocking-bird. Any 
one can imagine the turbulence, not to say 
agony, of a bird which, like this gnat-catcher, 
has a body that is evidently several sizes too 
small for its soul, necessitating a constant escape 
of delirious song and motion. The discov- 
ery threw me into quite a flutter, as it was my 
first and long-anticipated view of the elegant 
creature. He entertained me for nearly half an 
hour in a most confidential manner with his con- 
tinuous warble, graceful posturings, and airy 
flights, diving hither and thither for insects on 
the wing in the manner of a true flycatcher. 
The song is characterized by impetuosity rath- 
er than sweetness, as it is mostly a subdued 
reminiscence of the catbird’s heterogeneous 
vagaries. 
About this time I found a mysterious stranger 
on three different occasions, always by itself: 
104 
