BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
149 
Plate XXVI. 
POLIOPTILA CT:RULEA, (Linn.) Sclater. 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 
When the first breath of spring, on zephyr wings, blows over the 
South, laden with dewy moisture and balm from regions beyond the Gulf, 
this tiny speck of bird-life feels the glowing influence, and hails it with 
delight. Weary and restless, it seeks to break away from its winter-home, 
or change the monotony of its existence. While some are inclined to 
newness of climate, and leisurely wend their way northward, others are 
happy and contented where they are. Those, imbued with a spirit of 
migration, quit their less ambitious neighbors in March or April, to spend 
their summers abroad. All reach their destination by three great routes. 
Those on the east, that winter in the isles to the southward, follow the 
trend of the great Atlantic slope as far north as the valley of the Con- 
necticut and kindred latitudes. Others, doubtless, from our southernmost 
States and the Mexican possessions, pursue a central direction, one part 
passing through the eastern half of the Mississippi Valley to the Lake 
country, and the other ceasing from their toilsome journey when the 
northern frontiers of Nebraska and Iowa are attained. While the western 
wave, so to speak, collect from their winter-retreats in the valleys of the 
Colorado and Rio Grande Rivers and follow these streams to their head- 
waters, or turn aside from their course and make their way through the 
fertile slopes of the Pacific to the latitude of 42 degrees. 
Though an early migrant, yet, by reason of the tardiness of its move- 
ments, this species does not arrive in the Middle States until the last of 
April, or the beginning of May. In Maryland and Virginia, according 
to Coues, its advent occurs during the early part of April. The Carolinas, 
