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394 



THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 



hear it now without feeling an iiiipulse to applaud. The bird is so 

 smuil, the song so rich and fill, that one is reminded of a chorister 

 with tiie voice of an adult soprano. To extend the comparison, one 

 watches this gifted but unconscious musician flitting alx)ut the trees 

 with somewluvt the feeling that one observes the choir-boy doding his 

 surplice and joining his comrades for a game of tag. 



751* Polioptilac»rillea(ZiV/n.). Blie-okav Gnatoatciiek. (Seu 

 ¥\i!. AH, /i.) Ad. <5 . — Upifur {turts bluish gray ; forelieud uiid front of the hi'jid 

 niirrowly bordered by bluok ; wings edged witli gruyi.sli, the secoiuluries bor- 

 dered with whitish; outer tail-feathers white, elianging gradually until the 

 middle ones are blaek; under parts dull gruyiKh white. Ad. 9. — Siniilur, 

 but without the bluek on the head. L., 4-5u; \V., 205; T., 2-00; B., -40. 



Katuje. — Eastern United States; breeds from the Gulf States to northern 

 Illinois, southern Ontario, and New Jersey, and wanders rarely to Minnesota 

 and Maine; winters from Florida southward. 



Washi)) an, rather eoinniou S. R., Apl. 5 to Sept. 



Ntd., < ndrils, fine strips of bark, and line grasses firmly interwoven 

 and cover id externally with lichens, on a horizontal brancli or in a crotch, 

 ten to sixty, usually thirty feet up. iiV/i/*t fo""" to five, bluish white, thickly 

 spotted and speckled with cinnamon-, rufous-brown, or uml)er. -otj x •40. 



The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher frequents rather densely foliaged trees, 

 generally in the woods, showing a preference for the upper branches. 

 lie is a bird of strong character, and always seems to me like a minia- 

 ture Mockiiigbird with some of the habits of Kinglets. 



His exquisitely finished song is quite as renuirkable as the ordinary 

 performance of his large prototype, but is {)ossessod of so little volume 

 as to be inaudible unless one is quite near the singer. His character- 

 istic call-note — a rather sudden ting, like tiie twang of a banjo string 

 — can be heard at a greater distance. 



Family Turdid^. Thrushes, Bluebirds, etc. 



The three hundred species included in this large family are placed 

 by systematists in several subfamilies. About one hundred and fifty 

 are true Thrushes belonging in the subfainily Tnrdina'. These are 

 distributed throughout the w )rld, some twelve species inhabiting the 

 United States. As a rule, they inhabit wooded regions, are migratory, 

 and gregarious or sociable to a greater or less extent during their mi- 

 grations and in winter. 



As songsters they are inferior to some of our birds in power of 

 execution, but their voices are possessed of greater sweetness and 

 expression, and Ihey are conceded first rank among song-birds by all 

 true lovers of bird music. 



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