AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



28l 



Photo by C. A. Smith. 



NEST OF BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER. 



for they are as busy as bees until the nest is completed. During the 

 month of April, 1899 I found a great many nests of these birds near my 

 home in Hamilton county, Tenn. On one day I found some twenty-nine 

 pairs of this specie breeding. 



The movements of this specie are quick and spirited. It will be seen 

 whirling and darting in mid-air or among the branches of the trees in 

 pursuit of the little insect which forms his daily diet. The long grace- 

 ful tail adds much to the beauty of the bird and is no impediment, for 

 wings and tail seem lost in one, as the little fellow is whirling in quest 

 of its prey. The Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher suffers as perhaps no other 

 bird of its section by the ravages of the Blue Jay, which devastate its 

 little home devouring either eggs or well fledged young. 



H. R. Caldwell. 



