GNATCATCHERS AND VERDINS 203 



of their lives which helps much in interpreting 

 their real] nature. This little fellow's problem 

 was very real to him, as was shown by the vigor 

 with which he attacked its solving. A sparrow 

 having the same difficulties would doubtless 

 have taken care of them in quite a different 

 manner. 



The plumbeous gnatcatchers have a geo- 

 graphical range that is very definitely defined. 

 They are found more or less all the year through- 

 out the deserts of southeastern California, but 

 particularly in the Lower Sonoran Life-Zone of 

 the Colorado Desert as far west as the San 

 Gorgonio Pass region, where they are displaced 

 by the western and black-tailed gnatcatchers. 

 The plumbeous gnatcatchers are very jealous 

 of the territory which Nature has allotted them, 

 and with zeal they guard it against all en- 

 croachments on the part of the western and 

 black-tailed species. Occasionally one will see 

 a pair of black-tails on plumbeous territory, but 

 the trespassers are few, for they receive rough 

 handling and are hustled out of the region in a 

 hurry. This is especially true at nesting-time. 

 Both species of gnatcatchers are good scrappers, 



